Curbside recycling in West Vancouver is about to get a lot cuter.
On Monday, households across the municipality began receiving little pink boxes, which will soon hold flexible plastics for curbside pickup.
Inside each Barbie-worthy bin is a brochure from Recycle BC to ready residents for the start of staggered monthly collection dates in June.
Since 2019, Recycle BC depots provincewide have been collecting flexible, or “soft,” plastics like Ziploc bags; crinkly bags for cereal, chips or instant noodles; “net” plastic bags for various fruits and vegetables; and non-food protective packaging materials like bubble wrap. In recent years, more items have been added to the category including plastic bags and polyethylene foam.
Despite residents across the province being able to recycle these items by travelling to their local depot, West Vancouver is one of the only municipalities to roll out curbside pickup.
The permanent service is coming to West Van after a successful pilot program in certain neighbourhoods between 2021 and 2022, said Maja Rusinowska, spokesperson for Recycle BC.
“The community didn’t have a depot for drop off, then we ran a pilot to see if [curbside pickup] would work,” she said. “The results came out favourable, and so now we’re going forward with a permanent service.”
Adoption was also high when apartments and other multi-family buildings in West Van received pink boxes last year.
“There was great participation from residents,” Rusinowska said. “Results came back that it was convenient, it was easy, and a lot of material was collected.”
Rusinowska happens to live in West Van, in one of the multi-family buildings that’s been using the new bins. Other than the new receptacles standing out from existing ones, she said she’s not sure why they’re pink in colour – but she’s not upset about it.
“Personally, I love pink, so I was very glad when that colour was chosen,” she said.
While the cute containers are exclusive to West Van for the moment, there’s potential for them to come to other communities.
“We are looking into the potential for expanding in other regions across the province that may require this curbside service,” Rusinowska said. “But this would be on a case-by-case basis, and it would be up to local governments whether or not they’re interested in exploring this curbside option and then connecting with us.”
In the meantime, the district said it’s pleased to have flexible plastic collection at the curbside.
“This new service provides West Vancouver residents with a more convenient way to sort and divert their waste at home,” said Emily Willobee, senior manager of engineering. “Curbside collection will make it easier to recycle flexible plastics, helping us take another meaningful step toward the district’s waste reduction goals.”
How do West Van residents recycle flexible plastics?
Here are the steps to follow for curbside flexible plastic pickup, per Recycle BC:
- Empty and rinse.
- Contain. Bundle your flexible plastics inside reused plastic bags or zipper-lock pouches (like bread or produce bags) before placing them in the pink box to keep them from blowing away.
- Set out. Place the bundled plastics in your pink box and leave it at curbside between 5 and 7:30 a.m. on designated monthly collection days. Flexible plastics will be collected on a separate truck, so collection may be at a different time of day.
There are no changes to collection of other recycled materials, Recycle BC said.
Correction: Recycle BC clarified that Maple Ridge also collects flexible plastics at the curbside. Previously, it was done by the city but Recycle BC took over the contract in January.
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