The Burnaby Board of Trade supports a growing call for the provincial government to put the brakes on B.C.’s new recycling regime, set to launch May 19.
Paul Holden, president and CEO of the board of trade, says there needs to be more consultation before the province presses ahead with the revised recycling rules.
“There are still groups out there that are concerned about how this affects their sector,” said Holden.
“I think there is sufficient merit in pausing for a while and looking at it again to see what sort of impact it will have.”
Holden said the Burnaby Board of Trade expressed concerns about the program during earlier consultations, especially with the speed with which it was being implemented. He said Burnaby has a number of businesses impacted by the recycling changes.
Holden was responding to the launch on Monday of a campaign by a coalition of B.C. businesses asking Environment Minister Mary Polak and Premier Christy Clark to hit the pause button on the contentious recycling rules they say will kill jobs and increase red tape.
Mike Klassen, B.C. director of provincial affairs for the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB) called on Clark in particular to rethink the rules.
“It’s better to hit the pause button and rethink this rather than being stuck with a bad law on May 19,” said Klassen. “There are way too many businesses balking at it.”
Nine major business associations representing tens of thousands of B.C. small businesses and their employees have formed a coalition and launched a campaign to protest regulatory changes involving the recycling of printed-paper and packaging.
The Rethink It, B.C.! campaign is launching a media and social media blitz with ads running in 130 newspapers across the province.
The new regulations shift the responsibility for paying for recycling packaging and other paper products from consumers to the products’ producers. Multi-Material B.C. (MMBC), an Ontario-based industry group that includes grocery giant Loblaws, mega-retailer Walmart and the Tim Hortons fast food empire, runs the new program, scheduled to launch May 19.
Klassen said the rule changes will hurt thousands of businesses who will have to pass the recycling costs on to their customers.
The Rethink It, BC! Coalition includes businesses in the agriculture, newspaper publishing, landscaping, printing and custom manufacturing, retail, wholesale, food, and waste collection sectors.
The coalition also includes the B.C. and Yukon Community Newspapers Association (BCYCNA). The Burnaby NOW and its partner newspapers in the Glacier Media chain are members of the BCYCNA.
Canadian Newspaper Association Chair Peter Kvarnstrom (also president of B.C. operations for Glacier Media Group) said handing B.C.’s recycling programs over to an organization run out of Toronto makes no sense.
“B.C. is the first jurisdiction in the world where the government has abdicated its responsibility and handed the whole recycling system over to a group of multi-national organizations run from Bay Street,” said Kvarnstrom.
“Decisions on B.C.’s recycling programs are being made in offices in Toronto and local businesses have not been consulted.”
Ministry of Environment spokesperson David Crebo said the intent behind the MMBC program shifts the cost of recycling from taxpayers to the companies who produce the packaging and other materials. It should provide incentives to industry to reduce packaging.
Some 86 communities have signed on for the MMBC program, which provide recycling services to over 1.25 million households, or 73 per cent of B.C. residents.
