Some businesses in the Southeast get help to pay their recycling fees

A recycling pilot program has been approved in the R.M. of Ste. Anne to address commercial recycling in the municipality. 

At a recent meeting, council heard from C.A.O. Mike McLennan that there are few such programs in Manitoba. 

“There’s not a lot of other commercial recycling programs that are municipally sponsored that I've been able to come across,” McLennan said. “A lot of them are having commercial enterprises be responsible for their own and have private agreements set up with contractors to be able to pick up recycling.” 

Discussions began with the idea that the municipality would cover 60 percent of the cost and the commercial organization would pick up the remainder of the fee. 

Councillor Brad Ingles argued that it made more sense to flip those numbers around so the commercial entities would pick up the bigger portion of the tab, noting that recycling expenses should be part of the business plan. 

He also encouraged council to consider that the municipality is planning for more industrial development in the future and what such a fee structure could mean for their finances. 

After discussion, Ingles made a motion that still included the municipality paying for some of the cost. 

“So, 60% to the business and 40% to the municipality,” he stated. “But we want a clause in there saying that this could be reviewed and changed if we find it's just not feasible for us to pay for commercial recycling anymore.” 

Council unanimously approved this motion for the Commercial Policy Recycling Pilot Program.