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stouffville suntribune thursday may 19 2005 27 funding recycling big part of puzzle by patrick mangion staff writer unless corporations start paying the full cost of having their containers recy cled the blue box program as it is today should be scrapped york regions top waste bureaucrat says ifs a position director of solid waste andy campbell plans to pass on to queens park when the provinces blue box program is reviewed later this year if businesses are making these things why are they only paying 50 per cent instead of 100 per cent whats the rationale theyre only paying for half of the problems they produce mr campbell said but even at 50 per cent the indus trys share of blue box costs is more than it had been other than a onetime investment in the blue box program the makers of plastic and glass containers didnt used to contribute to recycling costs it wasnt until municipalities includ ing york began making serious pleas for a return to a depositreturn system which has proven successful with beer bottles and cans that big business agreed to help fund curbside pickup through stewardship ontario an organization created in 2002 to draw money from companies whose packag ing is collected through municipal waste management programs 1228 companies across the province share 50 per cent of blue box costs in 2003 these companies con- tributed about 59 million of the nearly 118 million it cost to run the programs york regions share is about 18 million if businesses are making these things why are they only paying 50 per cent instead of 100 per cent whats the rationale theyre only paying for half of the problems they produce andy campbell yorks director of solid waste a year including a 549910 payment it received in march until it stewardship ontario was cre ated york and most other ontario municipalities bore the full cost of their recycling programs after provincial funding dried up in the early 1990s it placed a burden on local taxpayers and municipal politicians setting budg ets mr campbell said more troubling however york has been forced to take some plastic con tainers to landfills since it lacks facto ries to sort problem containers such as those used for many margarine and shampoo products mr campbell added however a new sorting facility is set to open in east gwillimbury just north of newmarket this summer all of the regions recyclables will be sorted at the stateoftheart facility which will accept more than 25 types of containers previously unacceptable in regional blue boxes such as empty aerosol cans milk cartons and paint cans still mr campbell is part of a grow ing number of municipal managers and politicians in favour of a hybrid system a combination of blue box recycling and depositreturn a takebacktovendor is the best form of product stewardship mr campbell said clarissa morawski a toronto inde- pendent consultant and researcher agreed recycling is flawed and compa nies are largely to blame she and business partner melissa felder of cm consulting completed a 2003 report called who pays what tak ing a close look at the costs associated with recycling beverage containers in canada in 2001 and 2002 ontario companies prefer to subsi dize the blue box program than switch to a deposit return system which gener ally has a 75percent recycling rate because a return system is more expen sive in some industries its even higher the beer store for example boasts a return rateof more than 90 per cent by comparison ms morawski esti mated just 40 per cent of containers are returned through the blue box program ultimately its political at the end of the day ms morawski also a a board see deposit page 28 staff photomike barrett yorks director of solid waste andy campbell believes manufacturers should pay the full cost- of recycling their containers others including an industry group disagree may 2005 your invitation to an incredible 39 for 39 months their luxurious interior amenities put you in command of comfort their racebred power plants put you in command of the road and this spring our incredibly low lease rates putthem within your grasp like never before consider this your invitation to test drive the acura tsx and tl