2019 to early-June 2020. The stakeholder groups participated in meetings to discuss concerns. The Ministry facilitated the meetings for that seven to eight-month period.
The General Manager stated that he participated in the meetings as attended by other municipal representatives. The Ministry then gathered all stakeholders together related to the various discussion topics. The groups discussed the following topics:
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What products and/or packaging materials must be managed?
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What sources must be collected from?
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What would be the minimum standard of service. For example, in Essex-Windsor collection takes place every 2 weeks while in some Ontario municipalities it is collected every week.
The General Manager also noted that the Ministry was considering the following:
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That recycling should take place anywhere where it is currently being undertaken, for example, schools.
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The Ministry states that they are still looking at how certain areas are being collected.
The General Manager noted that also attached to the report are questions that were presented to the Minister at the AMO conference.
The Chair asked if there were any questions.
Mr. McKenzie asked if we have any concerns at this time that would affect us operationally. He stated that one of the major concerns is if recycling collection will still take place where it is being collected now. The Provincial appointed Special Advisor recommended in 2019 this and the municipalities concur with this. The General Manager stated that the next item municipalities are waiting for is the transition date to producers. He noted that currently net blue box costs are split 50-50 with the producers and the municipalities. The municipalities have to forecast these numbers in their budgets. The General Manager anticipates all municipalities will be advised of their transition date by the end of the year or early 2021. Transition is scheduled to occur during the period 2023-2025.
Mr. McKenzie asked if clarity is given by the Provincial government on how the funds are going to be collected and distributed to the producers. Mr. McKenzie asked if there is a concern or do we know how that is going to look. The Province is not going to say how it is going to be paid for. The province is not interested in collecting fees and distributing. There won’t be an agency to distribute the funds.