Kamloops residents slowly adapting to recycling change

Apr 13, 2017 | 12:30 PM

KAMLOOPS — The City of Kamloops says residents still have some work to do in order to be in compliance with the city’s new Recycle BC contract.

The new framework came into effect April 3, resulting in no more soft plastics or glass being taken by the city’s recycling contractor.

Streets and Environmental Services Manager Glen Farrow says residents are doing well keeping glass out of their bins, but need some work with plastic bags.

“The area that we still need to have some improvement on would be the soft plastic and the plastic bags. When opening lids with a lot of these carts we are still seeing quite a bit of soft plastics in the mix,” said Farrow.

Farrow notes the city can be fined if its recycling mix is too contaminated by items not accepted in its Recycle BC contract.

He adds city staff will continue to tag bins containing unacceptable products.

“We’re still all recycling carts across the community and when we’re seeing a concern or an issue, we tag it. On the tag, it indicates, ‘We collected your recycling today, however in the future, please remove soft plastic or glass,’ or whatever the contaminant might have been.”