Communities across Manitoba are calling on the provincial government to pay the cost of shipping old electronics to a Winnipeg-based recycler.
The issue of electronic waste recycling will be discussed among rural politicians and officials at the annual convention of the Association of Manitoba Municipalities Nov. 27-30 in Winnipeg.
Dauphin Coun. Al Dowhan said a one-day depot in his city this summer netted more than a tonne and a half of old computers, monitors, printers, televisions and other items. He has been inundated with calls from other residents who want to trash their old electronics, he said.
But Dauphin and most other communities cannot afford to ship residents' old electronics to the province's only recycler in Winnipeg.
Dowhan estimates hiring a shipping company to transport the electronics from Dauphin to Winnipeg — a distance of about 250 kilometres — would cost about $200 a trip. That could add up to at least $2,400 a year if the city were to hold its own monthly recycling depots.
"Rural communities should be given some type of assistance for the transportation of electronic waste into Winnipeg," Dowhan said Monday.
Environmental levy could come within year
But the provincial government says taxpayers should not be covering the cost of recycling electronic waste.
"These are challenges that many municipalities are not well-positioned to confront," said Doug Smith, director of Green Manitoba, on Monday.
"And I think it's appropriate — and it adheres to the polluter-pay-principle — that the producers of these materials take responsibility for managing the waste."
Smith said the province is in talks with the electronics industry about setting up an environmental levy program similar to one in Alberta, which charges levies of up to $45 for electronic items such as big-screen TVs.
Environmental fees on electronics could be in place in Manitoba within a year, Smith said. In the meantime, provincewide electronics recycling depots are being planned for next spring.
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