City hall is looking at new pricing for curbside recycling in Saskatoon as the city’s contract with Loraas Disposal nears an end.
A report from the city’s administration outlines several proposed changes to Saskatoon’s curbside recycling program. Many changes proposed involve limiting the materials accepted such as black plastics, polycoat containers, and glass.
"They are also contributors to contamination,” said Russ Munro, director of water and waste operations. “It takes away the marketability of those end product materials.”
The city’s administration recommends banning the recycling of only black plastic and polycoat materials, while continuing the partnership with SARCAN.
In 2019, the city began a pilot project with SARCAN, allowing residents to bring glass to SARCAN depots to recycle, and the decision to continue the partnership will also to be discussed at a committee meeting next week.
"Certainly we're hopeful it's going to continue to be a good option for residents to recycle glass," Munro said.
These options would see a monthly cost increase per household to $7 or $7.50. Currently the per household cost is $5.66 per month.
There are no proposed changes in the report that will affect collection frequency or the size of the current blue bins.
According to the report, continuing with SARCAN to continue recycling glass would cost roughly $30,000 to $40,000 a year.
Another option in the report is to scrap the curbside program all together, completely eliminating the monthly household cost, but this option is not recommended by administration.
Change in the global market for recyclables has changed according to the city, with the price for cardboard declining 45 per cent in a 12-month period, stating some Southeast Asian countries have stopped accepting certain recyclables such as mixed paper.
"Most of the material in our blue bins is the paper-cardboard type material," Munro said. "The price on that has dropped and a lot of the reason for that is the tolerance for contamination has dropped dramatically."
The report is heading to the environmental, utilities and corporate services committee on Monday Sept. 9.
