The Town of Hinton will maintain recycling services not covered by the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) program, which will provide free service at the Rowan Street depot starting April 1.
Council voted unanimously to keep these services on Tuesday (March 11), with one of the main concerns being illegal dumping, particularly of compost such as grass clippings.
“Unfortunately, I’ve witnessed the dumping of clippings and things in areas that are dangerous to our community fire-wise,” said Coun. Trevor Haas. “If we take that convenience away, it won’t go to the landfill. It will go to other areas of our community.”
EPR shifts the responsibility of dealing with recycling waste to the producer and away from local governments and taxpayers. The cost is recouped through the cost of a product rather than property taxes or utility rates.
A Producer Responsibility Organization, through the Edson and District Recycling Society, will manage recycling services at Hinton's depot. The town will also receive residential curbside recycling services in October 2026.
While the EPR program will save the Town roughly $300,000 per year, it does not cover all current services offered in Hinton. Administration estimated it would cost $110,000 annually to maintain the level of service.
Services not covered include the collection and disposal of compost, aerosol containers, batteries and electronics at the depot.
In addition, the Town currently covers $40,000 in tipping fees for commercial cardboard recycling and pays $13,000 per year for school pickups. Should the Town no longer cover tipping fees, McLaughlin estimated it would cost each business an extra $400 per year.
The Town also offers two toxic round-up collections per year, and the depot accepts toxic and hazardous materials year-round. For a community of Hinton’s size, the EPR program only requires one collection per year, and a permanent depot accepting these materials year-round is not required.
Trent McLaughlin, director of development and infrastructure, said administration had recommended not continuing these extra services since the West Yellowhead Landfill already offered them.
CAO Jordan Panasiuk added many of the items not covered, such as aerosol containers and batteries, were infrequently recycled.
“Typically, people go about every week [to the depot], but that’s usually for plastics and cardboard and usually the waste that they’re producing a lot of,” Panasiuk said.
Coun. Ryan Maguhn said he was glad there would now be hours on Sunday at the depot under the EPR program but wanted to maintain the current level of service.
“Down the road, I might not be against further change, but right now, as a community, I think we still have some work to do to sell some of the benefits about what these changes are actually going to bring to citizens,” Maguhn said.
Coun. Stuart Taylor noted residents he spoke to didn’t think the loss of services was worth the cost savings. He added businesses wouldn’t appreciate the $40,000 downloading onto them for cardboard recycling when they were already paying higher tax rates.
