The City of Kamloops is asking residents to make sure they are recycling properly.

Streets and Environmental Services Manager, Glen Farrow, says it is because of high contamination rates in curbside recycling that has been seen over the past three years.

“It is not in a specific location, it is more specific items that are the problem,” Farrow told NL News, noting contamination is when a material that is not accepted for collection (under Recycle BC guidelines) ends up in curbside recycling.

“Our agreement with Recycle BC is to have that contamination rate below three per cent, and that is based on weight. What we are seeing are the greatest challenges are things likes books, clothing, plastic toys, even electronics, and that just impacts our situation related to contamination.”

Farrow says the City was fined a total of $60,000 in 2022, in the form of reduced payments from Recycle BC, as a recent report showed the City’s average contamination rate over the past three years has been over 10 per cent.

“These fines that we have received are the very first time that we have received those credits actually, those service facility credits is technically what they are called,” Farrow said.

“We have been working very closely with Recycle BC for years to rein that in.”

In 2022, Kamloops City staff inspected more than 7,000 recycling carts. The majority – 89 per cent – were categorized as either excellent or good, with the others categorized as either fair or poor, meaning a high level of contamination.

Audits also showed a significant amount of recyclables were “unsortable” because they were bagged up or put inside plastic containers and not loose in the carts and bins. As well, the City says the audits found a significant amount of items – like glass, Styrofoam and plastic overwrap – in curbside bins, noting those items are only accepted at depots.

“Unlike some other municipalities, we have the luxury of having the ability to throw all recyclables into one container,” Farrow added. “With that, there is the opportunity to get the wrong product in there and that is what we are trying to curb at this time.”

It is why Farrow says recycling carts with a high amount of contamination will not be picked up as part of a new enforcement strategy – if staff aren’t able to connect with the people responsible.

“It’s so encouraging to see most residents doing their best to follow the guidelines for curbside recycling,” he said. “Unfortunately, warning letters for the really bad offenders have not been successful. The new approach will put some responsibility back on the resident to resolve the issue.”

“Our goal is to work together with all residents to reduce contamination as much as possible, and to avoid further penalties from Recycle BC.”