St. John's prepares curbside recycling plan

The City of St. John's will ask about 1,400 homes to participate in a curbside recycling pilot project, although Mayor Andy Wells is cautious about whether there's enough interest to make a citywide program feasible.

The city will ask homeowners in downtown St. John's and the Cowan Heights neighbourhood to take part in the pilot project, which will run for a year and a half.

"You've got to walk before you can run," Wells said Thursday, defending why it has taken St. John's years to prepare a curbside recycling program.

While Mount Pearl and Corner Brook— the other two cities in Newfoundland and Labrador— have already established their own curbside programs, Wells said there have been problems elsewhere, including contamination between organic and non-organic matters.

As well, Wells said, the city wants to make sure that enough homeowners move into a recycling routine.

"We know there's a lot of interest, but before we invest the millions of dollars that we believe is necessary into a proper recycling facility… we want to get some idea into how people in the city are going to respond," said Wells.

Homeowners will be asked to sort their waste into three streams: regular garbage, organic waste that can be composted, and recyclable materials including plastics and paper.

The program will be evaluated before city hall expands curbside recycling across St. John's. A citywide program would require expensive changes at the Robin Hood Bay landfill, Wells said.

Lisa Morrissey, who ardently brings her recycling to a local depot, says being able to put those materials out on her curb will mark a huge improvement.

"I think it's long overdue here in St. John's," said Morrissey, who fills her vehicle with boxes and bags of pop cans and other materials before heading to the depot.

"It's quite a chore to gather this all up. You sort of have to have a place in your house where you can store it all till you can actually make a run to the recycling place."

Wells said the pilot program, which will launch April 30, will succeed if enough consumers get involved and provide sufficient volume.

"People must understand that they think they've done their duty when they've done their recycling, but this only works if… the stuff that's being recycled has economic value," he said.