December 16, 2007

Recycle or refund
Nicole Madu

The standing committee on Resources and Environment has recently visited issues of concern regarding recycling and are currently deliberating a path of action. A change to the Beverage Container Recycling Regulation could have major impacts on Camrose citizens, recycling facilities and bottle depots.

The recycling facility in Camrose, Centra Cam, currently accepts newspaper, office waste paper, magazines and catalogues, phone books, computer paper, boxboard, corrugated cardboard, computers, tin cans, clear glass containers, plastic and paper milk jugs and televisions.

However, if the recommendations that the committee suggested are implemented in full by the legislature, milk jugs will have a bigger advantage in recycling.

Milk jugs may soon be included in the deposit refund system and existing deposit levels on beverage containers may be raised. Different deposit rates for different sized containers (10 cents for containers one litre or less and 20 cents for containers over one litre) and equal deposit rates of 10 cents for both pop and beer cans were two recommendations the committee made.

"The committee felt that the easier things were on consumers, the higher the return rates would be," said Denis Ducharme, chair of the standing committee on Resources and Environment.

Ducharme said that the committee chose to include milk containers in the deposit refund system, but did have concerns about the impacts this could create for families and individuals. With the implementation, close monitoring was also recommended to ensure the correct decision was made.

"Above all, the committee recognized that primarily this is an environmental issue," said Ducharme. "Throughout its deliberations, the committee was focused on the goal of ensuring that the recycling program is convenient and effective for the Alberta public."
Centra Cam offers recycling drop-off 24 hours a day, seven days a week.