The Surrey Board of Trade (SBoT) has added its voice to those opposing the province's new industry-led recycling regime, saying the system will increase costs for businesses who are still struggling to recover from the recession.
The SBoT has been hearing an increasing number of concerns about the new system from small businesses, said chief executive officer Anita Huberman in a statement.
"We're concerned that the financial and administrative impact on business will result in much higher fees required to comply with the law, or administrative loads necessary to comply with these additional levels of red tape," she said.
"This will increase the cost to business and in effect our economy."
After May 19, Multi Material BC (MMBC) will take control of many British Columbia municipal recycling services. The non-profit agency was created to implement the province's new recycling legislation, passed in 2011. That law makes industry responsible for paying for, collecting and recycling the packaging waste it puts into consumers' hands. The extended producer responsibility system is similar to stewardship programs for things like tires and paint and is already in place in Ontario and Manitoba. However, in B.C. the program has faced criticism from business groups and municipalities for poor consultation and communication.
On March 24, NDP MLA Lana Popham raised the issue in the legislature.
"As the date is getting closer that it will be implemented — which is eight weeks away — the number of questions that business have are starting to escalate," Popham told Business in Vancouver.
Popham said she has heard concerns from businesses that run recycling depots and from recycling haulers who are worried about being fined if they don't meet MMBC's aggressive 3% contamination rate (contamination is what happens when residents put non-recyclable waste in their recycling bins). MMBC can fine haulers up to $5,000 for each contaminated load.
"One of the businesses that's going to be a depot for MMBC still doesn't know how that's going to work. But they're identified as a depot," Popham said. "MMBC's going to be dropping stuff off and they still don't understand how it's going to work."
Popham is calling on the B.C. government to put a halt to the new program and to look at alternate ways recycling in B.C. could be improved, such as including more materials in the deposit system that currently covers cans and bottles.
In recent media interviews, B.C.'s minister of the environment, Mary Polak, has said enforcement of the new rules will happen gradually and MMBC will work with both municipalities and collectors to fix problems before levying fines.
Collectors will not be fined immediately for contaminated loads, said Allen Langdon, managing director for MMBC. For a one-year period, the agency will work with collectors to fix any contamination problems.
Under the new system, MMBC said, more items will be recycled and recycling will be extended to rural areas that previously did not have the service.
MMBC is governed by a board made up of executives from several multi-national corporations, including Tim Hortons, Coca Cola and Loblaws. On March 10, MMBC put out a call for members of an advisory board. Several of those positions have now been filled with representatives from B.C. businesses and organizations.
