Businesses that continue to dispose of cardboard at the Foothills Boulevard Regional Landfill will be paying more beginning January 1.
Earlier this year, the Regional District of Fraser-Fort George launched the Commercial Cardboard Diversion Program as part of its efforts to reduce the amount of recyclable materials coming into the landfill. It is a phased program that applies a surcharge for commercial customers with cardboard loads based on weight and make up of the load. For the first phase of the program, the Regional District established an acceptable cardboard load as being less than 25 per cent of the load of waste being disposed of. Customers bringing in loads with more than 25 per cent cardboard were charged an additional 50 per cent on their tipping fee.
Beginning January 1, the threshold of acceptable cardboard is reduced from 25 per cent to 10 per cent and the surcharge will double. The program is not aimed as residential customers who use the landfill.
Laura Zapotichny, Waste Diversion Program Leader with the Regional District says the program is already showing positive results. Since July 1, the landfill saw 2,809 loads of waste from industrial and commercial customers. Of all those loads, only 22 were deemed to have unacceptable levels of cardboard and charged a 50% fee.
“When it comes to getting rid of cardboard, we want to encourage the business community to look at other options for disposal,” said Zapotichny. “Businesses can arrange to rent cardboard bins and have their cardboard taken to a recycler. Smaller businesses who may not be able to afford that can take small loads of cardboard to a number of collection points in Prince George.”
The move is part of the Waste Diversion Strategy approved by the Regional District in 2016 to minimize the amount of recyclable materials discarded at the landfill as way to extend the life of that facility.
For more details about the commercial cardboard diversion program, visit www.sortsmart.ca
