City of London opens southwest Ontario’s largest recycling complex

One of the last Ontario cities to start blue-box recycling (in 1990), London now has the province’s newest processing plant. The new plant is capable of processing up to 100,000 tonnes per year of material from 160,000 households.  

“London is about to move into the next generation of recycling. Our recycling will grow by leaps and bounds with this new facility,” said Jay Stanford, the city’s head of environmental programs.  

According to Stanford, it took three years of planning and a full year of construction to complete the $22.4 million, 7,000 square metre complex which was funded through the federal gas tax and Waste Diversion Ontario. In August, London also introduced a larger blue box – dubbed “Big Blue,” and added new recyclables to what the city now collects. The expanded materials list includes clamshell containers, popular plastic containers for vegetables, fruits and pastries, all types of plastic, empty aerosol cans and cardboard cans.  

“Now that we’ve added these new materials, we’re up there with the best in recycling,” Stanford said. “We’ve always had that advantage of producing good-quality material and getting the highest possible revenue to lower recycling program costs. With this facility, we’re going to lower that amount even further.”  

Stanford added that the city-owned plant will use sophisticated equipment and a two-stream separation system, which will divide fibres and containers on site.  

“Currently, we’re paying in the range of $110 to $130 to process materials (at another local facility). The new facility will lower costs right away to $85 to $100 with an opportunity to lower it even further.”