LANCASTER – South Glengarrians won’t have noticed much of a difference but their recycling is now going to Cornwall instead of Alexandria.
The one year deal, approved by South Glengarry council last week, is more expensive than the existing contract with RARE (Recyclage Alexandria Recycling Equipe).
The cost for RARE last year was $43 per metric ton while Cornwall’s recycling is $55 a metric ton. Based on South Glengarry’s average tonnage (750 metric tons), it will cost about $9,000 more for recycling.
But the added costs come with two big advantages. Residents will be able to throw more types of items into their blue boxes and they won’t have to separate paper and cardboard from plastic and glass into two separate boxes.
Also, by taking more recycled products, it will mean a saving for the township through added life on its dump.
Even at the lower price for RARE, Infrastructure GM Ewen MacDonald told council that a “fairly significant” price increase was coming soon because of “financial difficulty” at the Alexandria plant.
“I think it’s great that we’re going to be able to recycle more products,” Coun. Stephanie Jaworski said.
RARE moved to a two-stream recycling process on Jan. 1 and South Glengarry’s recycling has been going to Cornwall since that time.
The deal was approved by the City of Cornwall on Dec. 10 and finalized by South Glengarry last week.