Why the City of Surrey is no longer picking up glass recyclables curbside
Posted December 2, 2016 4:38 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
SURREY (NEWS 1130) – Are you living in Surrey and feeling a little jealous of people in neighbourhing municipalities who are able to put their glass recyclables out with the cardboard and plastic? The city says forcing people to drive their glass to the depot is actually the more environmentally friendly option.
The province amended regulations in 2011 to prevent glass from being collected together. Glass breaks and the shards contaminate the other recycling. Multi-Material BC, the non-profit funded by industry to manage recycling in BC, will not accept recycling from municipalities if glass is mixed in. Cities either take payment from MMBC to use their crews or contractors to collect the materials or they can have MMBC hire a contractor to do the collection. Most municipalities have chosen the payment.
Cities like Vancouver have solved the problem by putting out bins just for glass. Vancouver uses recycling trucks with compartments, so this was fairly easy to do. Surrey has compaction trucks. All of the recycling is loaded into one bin, which is mechanically put in the truck and compacted.
Manager of Operations Rob Costanzo admits having to take glass to the recycling depot can be inconvenient, but he says there are advantages to Surrey’s system. “We can collect significantly more material. We’re significantly more efficient. Our costs are significantly lower for collection on the basis that a truck can be out on the road all day collecting recyclables and not have to go back and forth to the recycling processing facility to unload that material and time is money.”
He says the city spent about $12.5-million for waste collection when it used the more manual, separate bin system. That cost dropped to $9.5-million with their current, more automated system.
But it’s not just a cost-saving advantage according to Costanzo. He says they have been able to cut the number of trucks they use from 32 to 18 and that has environmental benefits. “A significant savings in terms of the sheer costs of collection, but also the wear and tear on our roads because these are heavy vehicles driving on local roads… and also the significant savings in fuel and the impact to the environment.”
Costanzo says they’re looking into what it would cost to retrofit their trucks with some kind of compartment to allow drivers to pick up glass at curbside once or twice per month.
