Multi-Material B.C. to Take Over Vancouver, Canada’s Recycling Pickup Services

The non-profit industry association will take responsibility for the work in an arrangement city staff say will save cash and leave the city looking cleaner than ever. There won’t be any noticeable change in recycling pickup and no jobs will be lost in the handover either, said Jerry Dobrovolny, the city’s general manager of engineering.

Rather than turn in their gloves, most of the city’s recycling collectors will be tasked with cleaning up the overflowing garbage cans and abandoned trash that have tarnished Vancouver’s sheen in recent years.

The extra staff will be part of a roughly $2 million additional annual investment in street cleanliness, Dobrovolny said. That push comes in the midst of increased 311 calls about Vancouver’s public realm cleanliness issues.