There may soon be a competitor to what is currently the only choice for companies who must comply with British Columbia’s contentious new industry-controlled recycling system.
Under B.C.’s extended producer responsibility (EPR) system, which came into effect May 19, businesses who produce consumer packaging materials must have either developed their own plan to recover packaging and pay for recycling, or have signed up with Multi-Material BC (MMBC), currently B.C.’s only stewardship organization.
StewardChoice Enterprises, a subsidiary of Reclay StewardEdge, is seeking regulatory approval from the B.C. government. If approved, the company will then pitch its services to companies like London Drugs, said Neil Hastie, development director for StewardChoice.
MMBC came under fire from both businesses and municipalities in the lead-up to the new system. Businesses complained they were being pressured to sign contracts without knowing the full cost of the system, while municipalities were skeptical that the recycling rates MMBC was offering would cover the cost of service.
MMBC’s awarding of a recycling processing contract to Green By Nature, a consortium made up of Cascades Recovery, Emterra Environmental and Merlin Plastics, has concerned local recycling companies like Urban Impact, who fear the loss of recycling materials will hurt their business.
In response to criticism that MMBC’s board of directors only included representitives from large multi-national corporations such as Tim Hortons, Loblaws and Proctor and Gamble, the organization has created a local advisory board.
Hastie said StewardChoice would focus on the 20% of multi-family buildings in B.C. currently not covered by MMBC. Most of those buildings are in either Metro Vancouver or Victoria.
“We are going to be working with waste management companies that already have contracts with buildings,” Hastie said.
“We will have an arrangement with that waste management where we will pay them to [pick up recycling].”
StewardChoice plans on being a competitive choice for companies who must comply with the new regulation.
“If you’re a [packaging] producer and you have a statutory obligation to participate in a plan … we would be a choice that they could make,” Hastie said. “We will be competitive in the market and over time we think we can attract a number of producers that would want to be part of our system.”
Clint Mahlman, chief executive officer of London Drugs, confirmed the Richmond-based retailer has been in conversation with StewardChoice.
“We’ve been evaluating all our options, including staying with MMBC as well as looking at our own compliance program,” Mahlman.
London Drugs currently has a contract with MMBC, but continues to assess the level of service and contract terms.
Some of those contract terms are “highly unusual,” said Mahlman, such as the year-long notice period London Drugs must give MMBC if it wants out of the contract. At the same time, London Drugs wants to support the new program, which is the largest of its kind in Canada.
“These [EPR programs] are big, complex programs and we’ve always found that there’s always a teething process and a time when we need to keep our options open,” he said.
London Drugs continues to provide feedback to improve the current program, such as improving the contract terms and finding a way to support companies that have offered product stewardship all along.
“We’ve had our own packaging take-back program for some time,” he said. “One of the things the MMBC program doesn’t do is provide any incentive for reward companies like ourselves to do things over and above.”
Mahlman said his company is also monitoring the program to make sure it doesn’t have any impact on customers.
@jenstden
