The Selwyn landfill will not be accepting non-eligible sources for recyclable materials as of the New Year.
Many changes are coming down the pipeline with the provincially legislated changes to recycling. Selwyn Township, along with the rest of Peterborough County, has until January 1, 2026 to transition to the new producer responsibility model for recyclable materials.
This means that the Circular Materials Ontario (CMO) is now the body in charge of collecting and depositing recycling for residents while businesses and non-eligible organizations will be responsible for their own recycling.
Previously the County of Peterborough had been responsible for blue box curbside and depot collection services throughout the County. According to a report presented to Selwyn council by Janice Lavalley, Chief Administrative Officer, the County was offered a contract with CMO to continue to be the service provider for these curbside and depot services and they chose to opt-out of all services. As a result of this decision by the County, CMO was responsible to determine how these services will be provided as of January 1, 2024. At that time CMO entered into an agreement with Emterra to provide curbside and depot collection services for a 9-year period and entered a 2-year Depot Operations Agreement with the Townships.
Lavalley stated that CMO’s responsibility for blue box materials collection does not include materials generated by the industrial, commercial and institutional sectors (non-eligible sources -NES). This means that in 2026, they will not be able to use the landfill depot either.
Lavalley said a report will be coming to council at a later date with options for these organizations.
However, with the transition period ending, CMO has issued the township with a Change Notices for the Depot Operations Agreements.
This would include changes to their current agreement which includes:
• extend the Depot Operations Agreement for three years, to December 31, 2028;
• eliminate the co-mingling of NES materials and remove the associated provisions to calculate the monthly reduction in monthly compensation for the NES materials
;• establish the new compensation amount for the depot operation costs of$3,400/month ($4,277/month during transition period);
• reduce the Promotion and Education funding from $1 per household to $0.35 per household that does not receive curbside collection (e.g. island properties) ($1.00 per total households in Township during transition period);
• limit the Promotion & Education (P & E) responsibilities to very limited activities specific to the depot.
Lavalley explained to council that this was a reduction in compensation for the depot operations based on the fact that most of the households in the township are serviced by curbside collection. The depot is supposed to service those without curbside collection (excluding producer organizations).
Lavalley also said that there was a reduction in educational funding as CMO will be taking over the majority education and promotion on their end.
Lavalley did recommend approving the new change order as if they did not, CMO would seek approval from the Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority to find an alternate location at another area depot for residents to access. She said this would be very inconvenient for residents and does not provide for a consistent and desirable level of service.
Her report stated this new change order would mean that in 2026 the township would receive revenue of $40,800 to support depot operations and approximately $4,015 to support specific promotion and education activities. She said that while this is a reduction from the revenue received for the last two years, it is still significant given that the Township did not receive any revenue to support the depot operations prior to CMO taking over management of these services.
The recommendation was moved by Deputy Mayor Black, seconded by Coun. Brian Henry and was carried.
