Canadians and Americans are likely to pay more for recycling in the future

David Biderman, executive director of the Solid Waste Association of North America, reportedly said that China, the world's largest manufacturer, had been generating its own recyclables in a greater quantity compared to 10 years back and is reluctant to accept imported material.

China also reportedly complained that it had been receiving poor quality material.

"There's a lot of garbage mixed up, occasionally, with those bales of plastic, paper and metal that are going over to China," Biderman told CBC News during an interview in his office in Silver Spring, Md.

"And so China is interested in stopping it from becoming the dumping ground for Western material."

Although China's ban to accept recyclable materials was not effective till Dec. 31, 2017, Chinese companies had stopped accepting foreign recycling materials many months earlier

China was reportedly still accepting some paper, but as of March 1, it has to be cleaner with a contamination rate of no more than 0.5 percent.

Biderman said that this change will come at a cost and added, "It's possible to do, but it takes a serious investment. It increases the cost, and I think ultimately, Canadians and Americans are likely to pay more for recycling in the future as a result of this activity."  

Some North American companies this year had reportedly started sending their recyclable materials to Asia at lower prices which left Canadian municipalities at a loss.

This reportedly also had left some Canadian cities with stockpiles of added flattened cardboard and crushed plastic without anywhere to send it.

But the major problem was reportedly with film plastics such as plastic shopping bags, bread bags and the wrapping on toilet paper.

Colchester County, Nova Scotia which had been sending 100 percent of its film plastics to China, amounting to around 600 tonnes per year had to stockpile 450 tonnes and to store hundreds of bales of it outside.

There was a concern  that material collected or lying outside could get degraded and then could no longer be fit for recycling

In that case, Wamboldt says, there will reportedly be no other choice but to bury it in a landfill.

"We certainly don't want to be putting material in the landfill," he was quoted to state.

But it was illegal to dump plastics in a landfill in Nova Scotia -- the only province in Canada -- which left Colchester to ask the province for a special permit.

Halifax, which had been shipping 80 percent of its recyclables to China, had reportedly requested and received  permit, and has since found new markets for its material

These challenges have resulted in British Columbia (B.C.)'s model -- of getting the plastics processed in the province, and having producers to pay -- gaining popularity.

"Retailers, manufacturers, quick-service restaurants and others actually have to pay for the packaging they put in the residential system, so they pay fees to Recycle BC, and we use that to run a province-wide system," explained Allen Langdon, managing director of Recycle BC.

Although B.C. had found new markets for its paper, there was much revenue loss.

Langdon says last year, Recycle BC was receiving roughly $80 a tonne for mixed paper, as opposed to the present market price to be zero.

(Reporting by Asha Bajaj)

Image: David Biderman/Facebook