Clamshell plastic overload has city scrambling for solutions

The city is dumping its stockpile of clamshell plastics but searching for a green solution for the containers going forward.

CALGARY (660 NEWS) — It has cost the City of Calgary $330,000 to store unwanted clamshell plastics, and now it is finding a new solution.

There are currently 2,000 tonnes of clamshell plastics sitting around in storage, as the city has no way to process the materials and there is no market for their sale.

Bereft of any other options for this stack of plastic, the city will make the choice to haul it off to a landfill — coming at an additional cost of $130,000.

Since April, the City of Calgary and its recycling contractor, Cascades Recovery+, have found a reliable solution for new clamshell plastics.

Local company Merlin Plastics will handle all of the incoming plastics, but will not deal with the 2,000 tonne stockpile.

Between September 2017 and April 2019, the city has explored numerous options to deal with the overload, but clamshell material is hard to market and recycle.

In total, these containers represent between one and two per cent of annual blue cart tonnage in the city.

The city notes that having an Extended Producer Responsibility program in Alberta would help to stabilize recycling markets, as it would streamline recycling in the province and hold producers accountable for reducing waste.

In the meantime, Calgarians are also reminded to follow guidelines and only put the proper materials in the recycling bin.

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