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By Fraser Valley Today Staff

Environment

Abbotsford asking residents to reduce recycling contamination

Jan 16, 2023 | 4:31 PM

ABBOTSFORD — There used to be a day when recycling efforts focussed on convincing people to develop recycling habits. And while that has been largely successful, the new challenge is to have people correctly categorize their recycling.

“While most residents in Abbotsford actively recycle, many don’t realize that some of the items they place in their blue bin end up contaminating the other items in there,” said Abbotsford Mayor, Ross Siemens.

According to Recycle BC, approximately 14 per cent of items placed in blue bins, are not acceptable for curbside recycling and wind up in a landfill. The problem can be exacerbated when an item is sorted incorrectly and then contaminates an entire bin.

“Learning how to properly sort items … will in turn help to reduce our contamination rates and create a safer and more sustainable city,” said Siemens.

That’s important because civic officials say it must significantly reduce its level of contamination or non-accepted materials. The City has set a goal of reducing the total non-accepted materials by 25 per cent by October. Failing to meet the required level could result in fines to the City, an increase in recycling fees for taxpayers and even the possibility of collection refusal for some offending residents.

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The City of Abbotsford has developed a host of online resources to help education residents about recycling categories. The webpage is at www.abbotsford.ca/waste. Officials say all residents will need to do their part to lower its recycling contamination rate.