Multi-Material BC to take on responsibility for delivery of recycling services in City of Vancouver

On November 17, the City of Vancouver announced that it had made a decision to transition responsibility for recycling collection services to Multi-Material BC (MMBC) for single family curbside residences and multi-family buildings. This decision follows the publication last week of a report to the City’s Standing Committee on City Finance and Services that recommended Council give notice to MMBC that the City wishes to transition responsibility for recycling collection services by the end of 2016.

This means that MMBC will take on direct responsibility for operating recycling collection services in the City of Vancouver. MMBC is already directly responsible for operating recycling services in several communities in the province, including the Cities of Langley, Coquitlam, Revelstoke, Prince George and Quesnel; the Village of Anmore; the University Endowment Lands; and Regional Districts of North Okanagan, Central Kootenay and Kootenay Boundary. In these communities, MMBC enters into contracts with service providers and oversees their operation and performance.

Since program launch on May 19, 2014, Vancouver has benefited from MMBC’s incentive payments to help cover the cost of providing recycling collection to residents in the City, but has now decided that it would like MMBC to fully manage this function. MMBC does not anticipate that the transition of services from the City to MMBC will impact steward fees or MMBC’s budget. MMBC’s supply chain staff will start the necessary work in partnership with the City to ensure Vancouver residents continue to receive a high level of service, while also operating an efficient service on behalf of its steward members.

In its Council report, which can be read here, the City states that although staff were initially reluctant to stop providing a City service to its residents, “MMBC has demonstrated their ability to implement recycling systems in other municipalities and have achieved high levels of recycling.”

In response to the City’s decision, Allen Langdon, Managing Director, MMBC, said: “This decision by the City of Vancouver speaks to its confidence in MMBC to efficiently and effectively manage residential packaging and printed paper recycling. We look forward to working on behalf of our members, and with the City of Vancouver, to effect a smooth transition and continue to build on our first year’s success of recovering 80 per cent of the packaging and printed paper sold in the province by our members.”