Yukon eyes new recycling model that puts onus on corporations to handle recyclables

The Yukon government is looking at a new model for waste diversion, and that could mean big changes for local organizations that handle the territory's recycling.

The model — Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) —  is one of several ideas being discussed at a three-day recycling summit that began Tuesday in Whitehorse.

EPR is already in place or in development in most Canadian provinces. The Yukon would become the first territory to move ahead with it.

Under the model, producers of recyclable materials would be responsible for recycling them as opposed to governments or other organizations. That means companies like Loblaws and Walmart —  which use plastic, glass and cardboard to package products — would have to pay to have those materials collected and processed.

Jennifer Dagg, who works with the Yukon government's Department of Environment, said the model would mean funding for recycling programs in the territory wouldn't come from taxpayer dollars.

"The key tenet of EPR is that it's funded through industry, through the producers of those products," she said. "It doesn't take government funds to complete the recycling process."

Dagg said the Yukon government first committed to the model in its climate strategy, Our Clean Future. 

Responsibility falling on non-profits

For Heather Ashthorn, executive director of Raven Recycling Society, EPR would be a welcome change.

Right now, most of the Yukon's recycling is processed by Raven Recycling Society —  a non-profit organization. The society acts as a collection facility, Ashthorn explained, but also receives recyclable materials from businesses like Whitehorse Blue Bin Recycling, a private business that does curbside pick-up for residents in Whitehorse.

Under the current system, Yukoners must either drop their recycling off at a transfer station or collection facility, or, if they're in Whitehorse, pay for private collection services. 

The territory is one of the only jurisdictions in Canada that handles recycling this way.

"It's one hundred per cent unusual," Ashthorn said. "I don't know of any other nonprofit organizations that are doing all the waste diversion for their municipality."

Raven Recycling and other service providers aren't contracted out by any level of government, and they don't get government funding, so recycling in the Yukon depends entirely on independent providers staying afloat. According to Ashthorn, that comes with a lot of risk.

"That risk usually shows up as a financial risk," Ashthorn said. "And where it really shows up is in the commodity market part of the revenues."

For example, Ashthorn said, the price of cardboard recently hit a near-zero value, and as a result Raven Recycling lost about 20 per cent of its revenue.

"We can't actually [operate] without that revenue," she said. "Raven has been funding non-refundable recycling out of our bottle depot revenues. And when there's a commodity market crash we have, in the past, had to close our doors."

Ashthorn said she hopes some processing continues to happen in the territory, so local businesses can benefit.

The public can now weigh in on the model through an online engagement process that's open until the end of January.

Dagg said the territory is also hoping to hear about other things Yukoners might want to see, like a free curbside recycling program.

Recycling only one piece of the puzzle

Mike Bailie, who runs the recycling depot at the Mount Lorne Transfer Station, said he has questions about exactly how the model will work in the territory, but he thinks it's a step in the right direction.

"There's a lot of examples of the system working such as in B.C.," he said. "Us tying into an existing system —  because we're so small, especially volume-wise, compared to B.C. —  it makes sense."

Still, he noted recycling is only one aspect of reducing waste.

"Lowering consumption is a way better way to go," he said.