Plastic bags not acceptable in ‘blue boxes’

Although Operations and Facilities manager Doug Brown said back in the fall that plastic bags would not be accepted for curbside “blue box” recycling, it seems some people haven’t been getting the message.
“It’s not that the town doesn’t want to pick up plastic bags. It’s a requirement of the plant where we bring the recyclables,” Brown said yesterday, referring to Metro Materials Recovery Inc. in Winnipeg
“They want everyone to do it. it’s a requirement,” he noted, adding other communities that use Metro, like Dryden and Kenora, must follow the same guidelines.
Brown said the requirement is included on the list of acceptable and unacceptable recyclables distributed last month. Anyone who leaves their recyclables in a plastic bag will not see them picked up at the curb.
The one and only exception to this rule is shredded office paper, which can be put in a clear plastic bag and put out for pick-up.
Brown said it’s too much of a mess to have shredded paper put in a cardboard box.
Some residents also have complained they’re having to stockpile recyclables because the pick-up only is done once every two weeks.
But Brown noted going back to a weekly schedule isn’t feasible because it would mean twice the cost to the town.
This would be counterproductive to what the town has done in the past year, which is cut the cost of the “blue box” pick-up here from $628/tonne to $315/tonne while doubling the volume of recyclables being taken away.
Brown said one solution for residents finding themselves with an overflowing “blue box” is to put any spillover into cardboard boxes, paper bags, or even reusable containers like laundry hampers.