Capital Regional District directors threw a $450,000-a-year lifeline to recycling depots on the Gulf Islands and in the Juan de Fuca electoral area Thursday by agreeing to make up a funding shortfall from Multi-Material B.C.
The new recycling program, administered by stewardship group MMBC, came as part of a Ministry of Environment policy change intended to shift financial responsibility for recycling packaging and printed paper from local governments to the industries that produce those materials.
The CRD entered into a contract with MMBC to collect blue box materials, but MMBC’s incentive for depot collection of the materials covers only 12 per cent of the cost — leaving a combined $450,000 shortfall a year for depots operated on Saltspring Island, the Southern Gulf Islands, and in the Juan de Fuca electoral area.