Recycling starts with putting the correct items in the bin
“Our contamination rates are on the rise,” according to Jeremy Garner, director of Public Works and Utilities.
Contamination of FSJ recycling is averaging 4 percent higher than the target levels set out in the Recycle BC contract, as a result, Recycle BC requires the city to develop a written contamination reduction plan.
“We have an agreement with Recycle BC, they accept our collected recycling, and they sell it to other processing facilities to use. Our agreement says we have to have our contamination at less than five percent by weight,” Garner said in a presentation to the city’s April 14 Committee of the Whole meeting.
If the recycling contamination is not reduced immediately and dramatically, Recycle BC may refuse to accept any more product from Fort St. John. This would force the city to pay to have the product disposed of at the landfill, incurring an estimated $60,000 in additional disposal fees and forfeiting $250,000 in annual revenue.
Using a Smart Camera system, the city has been able to take pictures of the bin contents as they’re dumped into the trucks and review the images with AI to identify contaminants.
Most of the items being found in the bins are recyclable, just not in the curbside bins provided by the city. Residents must take these items, including glass and plastic bags, to the recycling depot themselves. Bagged items, recyclable or not, aren’t accepted by the city’s recycling stream, and are thus considered contamination.
Notices, both educational and as warnings, as well as fines were issued to residents who habitually put the wrong things in their bins, and some bins have even been removed from properties that have repeatedly refused to comply with the curbside recycling program, Garner told council.
While the Smart Camera system and education campaigns had an initial impact on reducing contamination, Garner said there has been a recent increase in the amount of glass, garbage bags and hard cover books showing up in the recycling carts.
“Glass is recyclable, but not in our stream,” said Garner. “Why? Because when it gets dumped in the truck, it breaks. It breaks when you drop it in the recycling depot. It breaks and spreads when you haul it, so we can’t accept it. It is recyclable at the depot on 85th Avenue.”
With the hardcover books ending up in the stream, Garner points out that while paper is recyclable, the bindings and glue of the books aren’t. At least not in the city. They go to a different depot to get torn apart.
The Recycling Contamination Remediation plan (CRP) presented to council by Garner, outlined suggested steps to achieve the required reductions.
“The good news is, Fort St. John can recycle, and they can keep the contamination low. We have seen weeks where contamination is as low as two percent.”
There’s not one magic tool, but Garner says that photographing the contents of bins, and bin inspections have worked in the past. These tools and others all work well together.
Garner’s plan proposed four strategies to help reduce contamination:
Utilize the Smart Camera and AI program by ensuring cameras are working continuously;
Increase social media, other media source ads and posts on the Curbside Recycling Program;
Increase educational campaigns including updating the apps and website; and
Increase cart audits done by the Bylaw Team.
Councillor Tony Zabinsky suggested updating the stickers on the top of the bins, to clarify what exactly can be placed in them, but Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Darryl Blades pointed out that there are approximately 7,000 bins in the city, so it would take years to put new stickers on every bin.
However, using the AI technology the city has mapped out “hot zones” where contamination is particularly problematic, and Zabinsky suggested that staff consider updating the stickers in those areas.
“One thing to keep in mind,” Garner said, “is people recycle. Systems don’t recycle, machines don’t recycle, it starts with people putting the correct items in the bin.”