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Sea change coming in recycling

Simcoe facility may become `stranded asset’

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Norfolk County has positioned itself for the day when primary responsibility for recycling in Ontario shifts to the private sector.

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Last week, Norfolk council extended its current contract with HGC Management of Simcoe to late 2024.

The contract was set to expire in October. However, with the province preparing to shift responsibility for recycling to manufacturers and industry, Norfolk public works says a competitive bidding process is impractical because no new players are likely to invest in new equipment.

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“We own the building,” Jason Godby, interim general manager of public works, said of the county’s recycling facility on Grigg Drive in Simcoe. “(HGC) owns the equipment.”

Looming is the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act, which was passed at Queen’s Park in 2016. County staff expects the legislation to have a significant impact on smaller municipalities.

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“Norfolk County’s municipal recycling facility is a small facility that will likely become a stranded asset once the Blue Box transition occurs,” Merrisa Bokla, Norfolk’s supervisor of waste management, said in a report to council.

“The Blue Box program envisioned by the province and funding partners proposes using a larger, regionalized network with processing occurring at larger municipal recycling facilities with greater processing capacity. Staff will review options and form a strategy for (our) municipal recycling facility following the transition.”

Norfolk staff considered other options before recommending the HGC contract extension. These include converting the Grigg Drive facility into a transfer station and contracting out processing to the City of London or Niagara Region until the new legislation takes effect.

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Staff also considered transporting recyclables to a third-party transfer station and then having them hauled to a recycling facility outside Norfolk.

At a cost of $674,700 for a contract extension, continuing to do business with HGC Management for the next four years was the least expensive option by $100,000.

Municipalities award major contracts through a tendering process because this produces the best price for taxpayers. In this instance, county staff says that is impractical.

A new player, Bokla says, is unlikely “to invest money into purchasing new processing equipment for a four-year period.”

Norfolk CAO Jason Burgess agreed. He added potential new processors would likely be uninterested in acquiring HGC’s equipment in Simcoe.

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“The equipment gets beat up pretty quickly,” Burgess said. “It’s one of those very highly depreciable assets.”

During previous budget deliberations, Norfolk council has discussed the possibility of bi-weekly collection of recyclables as a cost-saving measure. In negotiating the contract extension, Charlotteville Coun. Chris Van Paassen asked staff to keep this option available.

“Things can change in four years, so we might want to have an option to open that discussion,” he said.

In her report, Bokla said many important questions remain unanswered as the date for “producer responsibility” in recycling approaches. The most obvious solution is for smaller municipalities such as Norfolk to contract with municipalities in larger urban centres. However, Bokla says it remains to be seen whether this avenue is available to the county.

“It is unknown if London, Niagara or other nearby facilities have the ability or willingness to accept Norfolk’s 5,000 metric tonnes of material per year,” she said. “One facility indicated they were at capacity for their current operations. In order to make a second shift viable, a large amount of material would need to be sourced in addition to Norfolk’s.”

MSonnenberg@postmedia.com

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