Provincial recycling goals are still a long way away for some cities

BY MARC LALONDE

marc.lalonde@transcontinental.ca

For most West Island municipalities, recycling 60 per cent of all glass, plastics, metals, fibres, bulky waste and putrescent material by the end of 2008, as mandated by the provincial government is going to be difficult — and Montreal’s foot-dragging isn’t helping the situation, either, one mayor said.

The recycling goals, set in 1998, are “going to be tough,” to achieve, Dorval Mayor Edgar Rouleau said last Thursday.

“We’re like everybody else, right now, sitting at about 35 or 36 per cent,” referring to the current percentage of recyclable and putrescible (organic waste, or composting) matter that is re-used.

“We have to get to 60 per cent, and then 65, and eventually to 80 per cent,” by 2012, and we’re working toward those goals. We’ve started a recycling program in the apartment buildings that have seven units or more, which didn’t previously have it,” Rouleau said.

The buildings that have already started recycling received as many 360-litre recycling containers as they requested, and Rouleau expects the remaining one-third of Dorval apartment buildings who have not yet gotten the bins will have them by the end of the summer.

“We’ve made contact with pretty much all the building owners and 95 per cent of them are enthusiastic about the project. The other five per cent are working on logistical issues that will allow them to be part of the recycling program,” he continued.

As far as organic waste, Rouleau said Dorval’s soon-to-be-formed environmental committee will address the issue as its first course of business.

“For us to be able to meet those goals it’s going to have to involve composting, and people are really eager. They really want to compost. And really, if you recycle and you compost, you’re only going to have one little bag of garbage every week.”

Pointe Claire Mayor Bill McMurchie said because Montreal’s agglomeration council has yet to decide how items are to be separated, Pointe Claire’s hands are tied in terms of collection and transport.

“The agglo is responsible for separation of the materials, and we are responsible for the collection and transport. What we are waiting for from Montreal is how the items are to be separated,” he said.

Leaf collections, a free composting service for residents and an eco-centre, which disposes of large items too unwieldy for landfills, such as large appliances, are among the recent projects Pointe Claire has undertaken in order to meet the provincial goals.

“I can’t tell you a number in terms of percentage right now, but Pointe Claire residents are very conscious. Our rate of recycling using the blue boxes is very, very high, and that’s not a surprise to me. I can’t tell you for sure that we’re going to meet that goal of 60 per cent by Dec. 31, 2008, but we’re going to do everything in our power to get there. I know Pointe Claire residents are positive about the idea,” McMurchie said.

Beaconsfield Mayor Bob Benedetti, whose city was one of the first area municipalities to form an environment committee, said his city is sitting at 42-per-cent recycling, and hopes to raise more awareness with the Green Patrol on the streets of Beaconsfield this summer.

“We have a lot of plans in place, but a lot depends on the setup that the agglo council decides on and what our partners in Montreal and (the Montreal Metropolitan Community) are doing.”