The County of Brant will be transitioning its Blue Box Recycling program operation to Circular Materials, contracted under Emterra Environmental as of January 1, 2025.
Circular Materials Ontario (CMO) is a non-profit organization managing Ontario’s extended producer responsibility (EPR) program system, and the upcoming change will align with Ontario’s Blue Box Regulation to make producers responsible for recycling the materials they create.
“This transition to Circular Materials represents a significant step forward for recycling in Ontario,” said Andrea Bazzard, Director of Environmental Services. “By placing the responsibility on producers, it encourages them to be more mindful of the materials they use in their products. This approach supports innovation, sustainability, and the promotion of recycling in our community.”
Overall, the transition aims to boost recycling rates, minimize landfill waste, and create a more consistent recycling system across Ontario. Under the new framework, producers will assume responsibility for the cost and management of Blue Box materials, encouraging sustainable practices and innovation in product design.
While residential homes will not be affected by the change, industrial, commercial and institutional properties are not included in the Blue Box service and will have to make alternate arrangements for recycling collection.
No changes have been made for residential households, and as far as scheduling concerns go, pickup days will remain as is.
During County of Brant’s Administration and Operations meeting on Tuesday, December 10, Councillor John Bell expressed his concerns about recycled materials possibly ending up in the garbage, and asked Baazard if those customers have been made aware of the changes.
“They’ve been informed that their collection will no longer be included with the municipal collection,” said Bazzard. “We’ve worked with them, we’ve met with them and we’ve provided them with additional information on how they can manage this. …We’re prepared to work through CMO and other municipalities working with the businesses as well to try to alleviate these pressures. It is not likely going to be a seamless transition, but we will work through it as it comes up.”
Also, in the report, submitted by Matthew D’Hondt, the County’s Solid Waste/Wastewater Operations Manager, it was noted that leachate offloading station is also being constructed at the Paris Water Pollution Control Plant (WPCP) to support the operation of the Biggars Lane Landfill Expansion, which started in 2024.
In regards to the addition, Bell asked Bazzard if staff have communicated with local residents in the nearby subdivision that they’ll be seeing 125 truckloads of leachate a year come through the neighbourhood.
“I know Councillor Peirce and I often get concerned residents complaining about odors,” he said. “Now, this new leachate station should avoid some of that, but can we send out communication to tell them what we’re doing and what they might expect going forward?”
Bazzard said they can absolutely do so.
“The increased volume of leachate going through to the Paris Water Pollution Control plant is not the result of the leachate offloading station, it’s a result of the new landfill operation because it will be completely contained through new regulations,” responded Bazzard. “We likely will not see an increase until the fall of 2025 when cell one is opened at the Biggars site, but we can definitely talk about communicating the operational changes of the new landfill and how the neighbourhood will see increased traffic.”
Councillor David Miller then asked who residents would call if their blue box didn’t get picked up and Bazzard noted that they would directly contact Emterra in such cases.
“Our customer service team has been informed that all these communications will be going directly to Emterra,” she said. “We’ve updated the website and we have communication, so we will be sharing that with them, and providing them with the information on how to redirect their calls.”
Miller then clarified if they would have any issues going forward with capacity at the Biggars Lane Landfill and Bazzard said that the construction was on par, and that the landfills lifespan was currently adequate.
Towards the end of the discussion, both Bell and Peirce inquired if there was a way to communicate the Schedule A document, a list of what can and can not go into the landfill, with residents.
“I found it really interesting to know what I could throw away and what would be collected, and what I couldn’t throw away and what wouldn’t be collected,” said Bell. “I’m going to guess that the average resident doesn’t know this list in the detail in which you’ve given it and I’m just wondering whether there’s an opportunity to communicate that?”
Bazzard said that staff could certainly provide a link to the document. To view the Schedule A list, visit: https://pub-brant.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=66395
The vote to receive the report’s information was then carried unanimously and council is expected to officially pass the by-law on the Tuesday, December 17, 2024 council meeting.
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
