
Photo courtesy of Recycle BC
Recycle BC, a not-for-profit organization involved in residential packaging and paper recycling in the western Canadian province of British Columbia, says 80 percent of the more than 208,000 metric tons of household material it collected last year was shipped to consuming destinations in North America.
That finding is one of several published in Recycle BC’s newly released 2024 Annual Report, which the organization says helps portray its role in “building a more effective and accountable recycling system” in the province in the past 11 years.
Recycle BC says its extended producer responsibility (EPR) program services more than 2 million households, or 99.5 percent of the province’s households, through curbside or multifamily collection or through drop-off depot services.
The North Vancouver-based group says in 2024, British Columbia residents set out more than 31,300 metric tons of plastic packaging for collection. Of that total, 98 percent was recoverable for recycling and nearly all of that subtotal was shipped to reprocessors in British Columbia.
The organization says nearly 208,500 metric tons of paperboard packaging and other paper was collected through its EPR program last year, noting that was an increase from the 201,000 metric tons collected in 2023.
Recycle BC has calculated a recovery for discarded materials it is responsible for of 83.3 in 2024, up from 79.6 percent the prior year.
It says the paper and board recovery rate increased from 88 percent in 2023 to 92 percent last year while the plastic recovery rates increased from 43 percent in 2023 to 45 percent in 2024.
Although 99 percent of plastic stayed onshore, sizable paper and board exports meant that 80 percent of the two materials combined stayed in North America. That total represents growth from the 73 percent onshore end markets figure from 2023.
Last year, Recycle BC says 62 First Nations (indigenous tribe) organizations participated in its program, and in July of last year, Recycle BC says it established segregated flexible plastics collection for multifamily buildings in West Vancouver, making it the first community in Recycle BC’s program area with that service.
“We’re now in our 12th year of operations, and it all began with a goal to create a more effective, accountable and innovative recycling system for residential packaging and paper in British Columbia,” says Sam Baker, executive director of Recycle BC.
“Since launching in 2014 as North America’s first full EPR program for packaging and paper, we have steadily grown and expanded our services,” adds Baker. “With the release of our 2024 Annual Report, we’re proud to highlight significant progress: increased household access to recycling, more communities benefiting from the program, expanded collection of flexible plastics [and] strengthened support for indigenous engagement.”
Continues Baker, “Ongoing investments and collaboration with our recycling network partners ensure high quality material is sorted to industry-set specifications and marketed domestically as much as possible,” added Sam Baker, Executive Director, Recycle BC.
“In 2024 we sent 80 percent of marketed material to North American end markets and 43 percent of marketed material stayed in Canada,” he states. “We are extremely proud that due to our collective efforts over 99 percent of plastic managed by recycling remains in B.C.”
The full Recycle BC 2024 Annual Report can be found on the organization’s website.
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