Saint-Lambert introduces new project to boost glass recycling

The City of Saint-Lambert is going to offer citizens a homegrown glass recycling solution by collecting glass products at the public works office and sending them to the nearest recycling facility.

The South Shore municipality says it will spend about $2,400 per year to rent a custom glass recycling bin and have it transported to a facility in Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu.

Residents will have to bring their glass products to the public works office in order to participate.

"This is a voluntary initiative that people will happily join," said city councillor Loïc Blancquaert. 

Blancquaert, who is also the president of the city's environmental committee, hopes the new project will be up and running in the next couple months.

This initiative comes in the wake of a so-called recycling crisis gripping the province as China, one of Quebec's biggest waste importers, has refused to take in more recyclable material.

• Recycling crisis hits Quebec as China rejects waste imports

One major reason for the ban was that garbage was too often mixed in with the recyclable imports.

Recyc-Québec, the agency that advises the government on reducing waste, says numbers from 2015 show that only 14 per cent of the 156,000 tonnes of glass generated by Quebecers is actually recycled.

A spokesperson for the group told CBC Daybreak that the number has likely increased in the last two years.

Blancquaert said that the idea to implement the new bin was inspired by a similar project in Saint-Denis-de-Brompton, in the Eastern Townships.

He said studies show that a large portion of glass material ultimately ends up in landfills every year and that councillors in Saint-Lambert wanted to offer an alternative.

"I saw that glass was not recycled. It was going to the dumpster. I thought it was an easy way, that costs not a lot of money, to give this opportunity to the citizens," he said.

Glass is often contaminated, broken

Karel Ménard, director of a Quebec environmental group that promotes sustainable waste disposal, said that one of the main reasons glass products picked up during curbside collection aren't recycled is because they are either contaminated or broken.

"What goes on the conveyers at the sorting centre is actually pieces of glass which is very hard to remove or to sort out," he said. "At the end of the sorting, what we call glass is actually glass mixed with ceramics, with little stones, with keys, batteries, little pieces."

Ménard said that he hopes other cities and municipalities will take notice of Saint-Lambert's initiative and consider doing the same.

The city council still has to rent out the required drop-off bin and contract a company to make the bimonthly deliveries.

The new project is expected to be up and running before summer, but it's not mandatory and citizens will still be allowed to put glass products out curbside.

Saint-Lambert's public works office is located at 31 Fort Avenue.