Who pays for recycling in Nova Scotia is set to change

Recycling is changing in Nova Scotia, but it won't mean adjusting how you put your blue bags on the curb.

The province is switching to extended producer responsibility, or EPR — a policy shift that puts the responsibility for recycling materials on the producers that make them.

Right now, recycling programs in Nova Scotia are funded by municipalities, which means taxpayers cover some of the cost.

But the shift to EPR later this year means the "producers" of packaging, paper and single-use products, including the brand holders, importers and retailers of those materials, will be the ones to pony up the cash to recycle them.

As a part of the new measures, producers in the private sector were required to register with the not-for-profit recycling corporation Divert N.S. by January 2024.

Despite the change, Nova Scotians shouldn't notice much difference when the program is implemented on Dec. 1, 2025, according to Alanna McPhee, the executive director of EPR oversight at Divert N.S. She said recyclable materials will continue to be collected on the curb, separated and sent to end markets.

Divert NS estimates Nova Scotia municipalities will save between $20 million and $25 million a year.

Not-for-profit at the head of EPR operations

The program is being implemented in Nova Scotia by Circular Materials, a national not-for-profit organization that represents the producers.

Andrew Philopoulos, the managing director for the organization in Atlantic Canada, said as jurisdictions across the country enact EPR policies, producers are obliged to fund the programs' operations.

In the beginning, he said Circular Materials will "largely be relying on existing infrastructure" to get materials processed.

Circular Materials will either be contracting recycling services directly with municipalities or First Nation communities or retaining a recycling collector, he added.

Meanwhile, communities can either manage their recycling services with financial and operational support help from Circular Materials, or they can opt out and Circular Materials will assume full responsibility of the program.

"We're actually undergoing a [request for proposal] process that we're in the middle of where we are planning to build a facility, or several facilities, to service both Nova Scotia and New Brunswick," Philopoulos said.

Funds from the producers will be used to build the new facilities, he said, although he did not specify how much construction would cost and added that a site in Nova Scotia has not yet been chosen.

There are also initiatives to tackle some of the more difficult-to-recycle materials, like candy and snack wrappers, stand-up plastic pouches and chip bags.

EPR for electronics in place since 2008

EPR policies have long been used for electronics in Nova Scotia, ever since the Electronic Product Stewardship Regulations went into effect in 2008.

The Electronic Product Recycling Association, which administers the province's electronics program, receives funding from companies that make items from laptops to vacuum cleaners. The association then handles the recycling process.

The association doesn't process large appliances or products containing coolants.

"How many different brands of electronics are in your house? ... To try to have them each individually handle their own material wouldn't be really a sustainable or efficient option," said Maylia Parker, the group's executive director for Atlantic Canada.

"This way ... it doesn't matter which producer made it, they're registered with us and we're making sure that it gets responsibly recycled."

Parker said the program for electronics works similarly to that for other recyclable materials.

The organization works on the behalf of producers that register with the association, which charges a fee on the "break-even" cost of recycling materials. The industry typically passes on that cost to consumers, Parker said.

Those funds are then used to collect the electronics, take them apart into individual pieces and sort them into recyclable categories.