Whitehorse, YT – It isn’t new news that Raven ReCentre is trying to shift away from offering recycling services to focus on reuse. Still, their recent announcement that they will no longer accept paper and packaging after mid-September signals another large leap towards their goal however with Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) set to launch in 2026 this could mean a gap in recycling services.
Originally, Raven had communicated to the City of Whitehorse that they would no longer accept non-refundable recyclables after December 31st, 2023, but in hopes of a city-wide curbside recycling program, they decided to continue offering the service until September 15th, 2024.
Extended Producer Responsibility shifts the responsibility to producers in managing and funding recycling efforts but that isn’t set to take effect in Yukon for around two years. Minister of Community Services Richard Mostyn noted that EPR will play a large role in the future of recycling and, because recycling is up to municipalities, it will ultimately be up to the City of Whitehorse to address a potential service gap.
“At the end of the day, recycling has to go somewhere and the city will have to decide if that’s the landfill or if it’s going to continue to have a recycling option for its citizens in Whitehorse over the next several months,” said Minister Mostyn.
The Yukon Government is currently working with producers to determine the specific working details, including how much responsibility producers take on, for EPR in the territory. The Government was also engaged in conversations with the City of Whitehorse and has offered up to $2.4 million to help with the transition to EPR.
During the City of Whitehorse city council meeting on April 15th, the council heard a recommendation that the city engage further with producer groups ahead of EPR taking effect to better inform what recycling options are feasible.
The recommendation to carry on consultation, which will be voted on during April 22nd’s meeting, aims to allow for further engagement to get more assurance that producers would provide adequate support for curbside recycling when EPR kicks in.
“If we do set up a program in the meantime, we hope it’ll be something that would be supported by the producers, but that’s the risk that we’re taking at the moment,” said Mayor Cabott. “If we set up a good curbside recycling program, there’s no guarantee that that program would continue.”
Although there are no concrete plans yet, there were a couple of alternative measures included in the recommendation including ceasing work on a city-run program and instead establishing a fee-for-service depot at the Waste Management Facility. Mayor Cabott says they are continuing to look at options for addressing the possible service gap.
Amidst the efforts to find feasible recycling options, Heather Ashthorn, the Executive Director of Raven ReCentre, says that with EPR coming into effect they will continue towards their focus on zero-waste initiatives. There are plans to expand the Reuse store and explore options for diverting other unique materials, such as mattresses, from landfills as they move away from recycling.
“Paper and packaging is something that we’ve done in the absence of another management plan,” said Ashthorn. “It was always meant to be a temporary stopgap solution.”
Ashthorn says there is more to come from the ReCentre in the future and points out that as the changes in recycling services throw the future of recycling into uncertainty it’s a great time for the public to jump in and help push for a solution.
“If curbside collection is important to you and not having a gap and recycling is important to you now’s the time to show up and speak out about those things,” said Ashthorn. “It’s a really exciting moment and possibly a pivotal game-changing moment in the way we manage waste.”
