RRFB Nova Scotia announced that it will immediately increase beverage container handling fees paid to the province’s Enviro-Depot operators. RRFB Nova Scotia’s board of directors has agreed to the following actions:
For the period from April 1, 2002 to April 1, 2003 the fee will retroactively increase to $.03. This new money will be paid in a lump sum to operators by May 28. The new fee to be paid is an increase from the $.025 collectors of the beverage containers were receiving.
For this year, the container-handling fee will increase to 3.1 cents, retroactive to April 1 of this year.
Further, RRFB’s board of directors will strike a joint-committee comprised of Enviro-Depot operators and board members to develop a long-term strategy for container handling fees. The strategy will be in place by April 1, 2004. The increased handling fees announced will provide about $600,000 of new money to the province’s Enviro-Depot system.
The Eastern Recyclers Association, which represents the province’s 87 enviro depots, had wanted a five-year agreement with step increases, beginning at 3.3 cents April 1, 2003, and rising to 4.2 cents in 2007.
“RRFB Nova Scotia has agreed to pay a higher handling fee that will increase depot operators’ revenues by $600,000 for 2002 and 2003 and still allow us to adequately fund Nova Scotia’s world-renowned waste reduction programs,” said Derek Firth, COO of RRFB Nova Scotia. “The increased handling fees balance the financial needs of the Enviro-Depot operators with those of our other environmental partners who depend on fair and consistent funding.” Money to pay for the increased fees will be diverted from RRFB Nova Scotia’s other mandates.
Half of the money will come from municipal diversion programs, 10 percent from revenues to cover Provincial solid-waste resource management, and 40 percent from environmental education and public awareness, and value-added small business initiatives.