Powassan residents are being asked to hold on to their glass while the municipality works out a system to have it recycled.
Mayor Peter McIsaac says he's asked staff to order a new bin for the landfill specifically for used glass.
“Once it arrives, we're asking people to take the glass to the bin themselves or make arrangements to have it picked up,” McIsaac says. “Hold on to it in the meantime, instead of putting it in garbage bags and then buried at the landfill.”
Although the municipality has a recycling depot at the landfill, glass products are not one of the goods collected.
McIsaac is trying to prevent more glass from ending up at the local landfill, explaining that it takes a long time to break down.
“We'll find a way to store the glass and have a secondary-use provider who can take and recycle it,” he says. “There will probably be some cost to the municipality to do that. But we're willing to take that cost on if it's reasonable, rather than see the glass go into our landfill.”
McIsaac says he doesn't know if the municipality can sell the glass, but adds right now it's more important to keep it from being buried at the landfill. The collection process may be temporary.
In 2025, McIsaac notes, the province will want the producers of recyclables such as glass to be responsible for the packaging or containers.
“So for all products, the onus will be on the producer,” he says.
While staff are working out the logistics of acquiring a bin to accept the glass, McIsaac says residents are asked to hold on to their used glass containers.
“Then when we've accumulated a certain amount, we can have a carrier pick it up and deliver it somewhere so it gets a second life and is not in our landfill at the end of the day,” he says.
- Rocco Frangione, Local Journalism Initiative, North Bay Nugget.
