Metro Vancouver fined private and municipal trash haulers more than $450,000 last year for having forbidden recyclables in their loads, documents obtained through access-to-information laws show.
The surcharges are meant to be a deterrent to haulers dumping items for which there are recycling programs, including corrugated cardboard, yard trimmings and electronics. It is considered haulers’ responsibility to deal with their customers to keep banned items out of the waste stream.
Documents released to The Vancouver Sun, over the objection of several haulers, show that Metro Vancouver issued $383,369 in fines last year at regional waste facilities, and $74,298 at the City of Vancouver’s transfer station and landfill in Burns Bog in Delta.
Just eight large haulers were responsible for about $315,000 or 82 per cent of the total surcharge fines levied by Metro against 100 companies and agencies involving both residential and commercial trash in 2013. The eight had violation rates of four to seven per cent.