Garbage sorting going downhill says Recycle SENB official

Gena Alderson, of Recycle SENB, says nearly one year into enforcement of the wet and dry sorting program, there has been a downturn in compliance in Moncton, Riverview and Dieppe.

People are expected to sort their garbage, so their recyclables go into blue bags and compost goes into green bags.

Alderson says there was initially a big improvement when garbage collectors began cracking down in November 2013.

Trash collectors check bags, and if they aren't sorted correctly, garbage is left at the curb with a sticker explaining why.

However, Alderson says residents and garbage collectors have both gotten a bit lax.

"The stickering in several areas in the region has slowed down a little bit," she said.

"We did have a pretty dramatic improvement, and so I think that people saw that it got better... and so maybe we relaxed a bit on that and it's probably continued to be relaxed over the summer."

Alderson says it is important for Recycle SENB to continue telling people what they are doing wrong, and to remind people how to do it right.

"We're getting more glass in our green bags again, which is a really big issue for us. Glass contamination is something we have a lot of trouble dealing with."

Alderson says the other thing sorters are seeing is a lot of plastic food containers in green bags.

"People aren't quite taking the time that they need to empty out their food packaging."

With blue bags, which are meant for recyclables that have been rinsed and cleaned, she says people are putting food waste in them which contaminates everything.

"So if you're throwing out plastics and paper and cardboard that are covered in food or things like that, we can't recycle those and they're ending up in the landfill," Alderson said.

Isabelle LeBlanc, a spokesperson for the City of Moncton, says city trash collectors remain diligent and are still inspecting garbage bags every week.

"We always have cases that certainly will likely not change, but as I said, we see about eight to ten addresses per shift where we need to sticker a bag."