Emily Plihal
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Peace River town council decided the fate of the Extended Producer Responsibility Recycling contract at its Jan. 13 regular meeting.

The Alberta Government recently rolled out a new Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) Framework policy to communities meant to be a model to deal with recyclable materials.

Under EPR, producers of recyclable wastes will now become responsible for paying and managing those waste streams, eliminating the burden from municipal budgets.

“Municipalities should save some of the costs they have been paying to do their recycling programs,” says Mayor Elaine Manzer, noting council currently has a curbside recycling program with a contractor responsible for picking up and hauling blue-bag recyclables out of the community.

“The Town decided to transition managements of household recycling services (blue bag program) to the Circular Materials company.”

Circular Materials is a company selected to manage the recycling contracts province wide starting on April 1. The Alberta Recycling Management Authority (ARMA) is responsible for the oversight of the EPR and they had selected the company, says Manzer.

“Circular Materials will be responsible for collecting the blue bags at the curb in Peace River and then continuing to try to sell, recycle, or reuse the materials and dealing with the producers who are responsible for using and producing the recyclable materials,” Manzer explains.

“Instead of our town ratepayers paying for the recycling program, Circular Materials and the waste producers will be paying for the recycling.”

Manzer explains this is not a new recycling model, as other provinces have already adopted similar systems.

“Several other provinces have adopted EPR models for household recycling and the costs of recycling have been built into the cost of the goods,” she explains.

“So town ratepayers will no longer be actually paying for the cost of the recycling twice once when they purchase the goods and a second time when the municipality’s engaged a contractor to deal with the recycled goods.”

Manzer notes that town residents will continue to use the recycling curb side pick-up services, but will see the removal of the estimated $150,000 cost of recycling from the waste management cost from 2026 onwards.

“They will see the eventual expansion of recycling services pick-up to multifamily residential properties, and hopefully an expansion of the materials included in the blue bag program to include glass,” she says.

“The Town is still responsible for municipal solid waste (MSW) collection and disposal (black bin/bag) and it’s our understanding that the ECO Center will still be required as it collects Household Hazardous Waste including electronics, paint, and other things and the ECO Centre provides service for some commercial as well.”