Owners of apartment buildings in Saint John will soon be required to bring recycling collection to their tenants.
Under a bylaw change proposed at city council Tuesday night, it would be mandatory for owners of large apartment buildings to register for on-site recycling collection, which few in the region have signed up for on their own.
“It’s fitting that on Earth Day, common council has the opportunity to increase the recycling opportunities for our residents,” said Tim O’Reilly, the director of public works and transportation, who presented the recommendation to council.
Councillors approved the recommendation, which would need one more formal reading before becoming official.
Owners of multi-family dwellings would need to register for the service by May 31 on the website Circular Materials, the non-profit that manages recycling collection the province.
The apartment service itself would begin Nov 1.
People living in apartment complexes with no more than four units have been able to recycle since October 2022, when the city started rolling out its Waste Wise program, which included curbside recycling and a cap on how much garbage could be put out for collection.
“When we introduced curbside recycling and garbage limits, we saw garbage in the landfill reduced by about 30 per cent,” O’Reilly said.
“But just providing that convenience, service to those apartment dwellers is a big opportunity for citizens.”n
But the city also took way one option available to tenants whose buildings weren’t served. Tenants used to be able to take their recycling to large blue bins at certain locations, including some grocery store parking lots, but the city decommissioned the bins.
This left tenants with a few less attractive choices: take their recycling to the Crane Mountain landfill operation, about 18 kilometres from uptown, hire a private recycling pickup service out of pocket, or hope their landlord would offer recycling.
“A lot of residents have been waiting for this,” Coun. Paula Radwan said Tuesday of the bylaw change.
“So it’s great to see that they’ll be able to recycle. A lot of people did end up missing the blue bins because they wanted to recycle. So this is going to give you the opportunity to do it again.”
A staff report submitted to council says there would be no cost to owners for recycling bins or collection but owners are responsible for providing space for bins that are also accessible for collection.
The city is resorting to making registration a requirement after an underwhelming amount of building owners in the region met the first registration deadline, which was Jan 31.
A staff report says that in all of the Fundy region, only 54 apartments were registered for collection by this date.
By comparison, the capital region, which includes Fredericton, saw 461 apartments registered by that date.
City staff, the report says, believe the by-law changes in Fredericton compelling registration made the key difference.
The Fundy region — which includes Saint John, with about 750 apartments — was one of several regions with a January deadline.
The May deadline is intended for the next block of regions, including Miramichi and the Acadian Peninsula, and owners from other regions who missed the date in January.
Recycling services for buildings registered by Jan 31 will begin May 1.
