Canadian Recycler Loses Its License

Nova Scotia’s largest recycling company has had its license to operate suspended by the Resource Recovery Fund Board of Nova Scotia.

Dave’s Bottle Exchange Ltd. on Charles Street, Halifax, had its license yanked because owners Philip and Richard Blackburn had temporarily closed their depot to the public for two weeks to make renovations.

“We’re not making ends meet doing this,” Philip Blackburn said.

“We’re trying to figure out a way we can; that’s why we decided to do some renovations, to see what we could do.”

Blackburn said all he needs to do to get his license back is send the board a list of hours his business will be open.

Bruce Rogers of the Eastern Recyclers Association said the real issue is that the province is underfunding the recycling program, and recyclers are having a difficult time keeping their businesses going.

“Dave’s are losing money, and they’re the largest operation in the province,” Rogers said.

“If the largest fellow in the province can’t make any money, how can the others?”

In 1995, the province instituted a bottle deposit of 10 cents. Consumers get five cents back when they return their empties, and the other nickel goes to the Resource Recovery Fund to administer waste-management programs.

Rogers said recyclers aren’t getting a big enough cut of that nickel. Dealers now get 2.95 cents for handling each container, he said, but they should be paid 4.2 cents.

“What’s been happening over the past number of years is that costs have gone up significantly, but the handling fee itself has not gone up. What we’re trying to do is get appropriate funding for them,” he said.

Derek Firth, chief operating officer of the board, said if the handling fee was upped to 4.2 cents per container, it would be the highest in the country, and would cost the board an extra $3 million.

“Everyone wants a bigger part of the nickel,” Firth said.

The 86 envirodepots around the province recycle 240 million containers every year, and were paid $7 million in handling fees last year, he said.

The handling fee is under review, Firth said, and it’s already scheduled to go up to three cents per container next April.