Local recycling processors are welcoming last Thursday’s announcement by the Yukon government committing up to $717,010 to diversion credits and increase to processing fees on recyclable beverage containers.

Diversion credits are funding provided to recyclers for non-refundable recyclable waste, in recognition that they are keeping that waste out of the landfill. The amount each recycler receives in diversion credits is based on the weight of recyclables they ship out.

The 2015/16 fiscal year saw the territory commit up to $573,000 to the credits, while the city added an additional $57,300 to the $150,000 for the diversion credits it provides.

In addition to increasing the diversion credits last Thursday, the territory also announced an overall increase of 20 per cent to the processing fees that are paid to recyclers on the refundable beverage containers collected.

“This increase in funding will reduce the pressure faced by our local processors and give us the time needed to implement a recycling system that is financially and environmentally sustainable,” Community Services Minister Currie Dixon said in a statement.

The city, territory and local recyclers have been working in recent years on more long-term approaches to recycling. The city recently opted not to move forward with a curbside collection program due to the high costs, but has made changes to its diversion credit system as has the territory. The territory also recently opted to hold off on planned changes to the deposits paid on beverage containers as well as new fees that were planned for other products to cover the costs of recycling.

Thursday’s announcement of the increases to diversion credits and processing fees is the most recent to be made on the matter.

Officials with the two recycling processors in town - P&M Recycling and Raven Recycling - offered praises for the move.

“It is good news,” Raven’s executive director Joy Snyder said, though she added it does not address the issue of how to fund the cost of recycling into the future.

“We still don’t have a system,” she said. “This is a Band-Aid.”

The increase, she argued, helps cover off the rise in shipping costs that have occurred in recent years, essentially making it a cost-of-living increase.

For Raven, it’s clear there will have to be operational changes made after the city opted not to move forward with its curbside collection program. Raven had been listed as a subcontractor on both bids that were submitted.

Officials are still working on what changes may be made at Raven and that will be the focus moving into the fall, Snyder said.

Meanwhile, P&M owner Pat McInroy, who is planning to run under the Yukon Party banner in the next territorial election, kept his comments brief but noted as a recycling processor, “... every little bit helps.”

He also added though the increase to diversion credits and processing fees will likely have more of an impact on Raven, which also collects non-refundable commercial waste that can be recycled.

Since an April 7 order by the city for P&M to cease operations out of its Sixth Avenue warehouse due to a zoning contravention, P&M has stopped accepting the commercial non-refundable recycling it previously did as well as ending its operations at the city landfill since it no longer has the storage space available.

It continues to accept residential recyclables – both non-refundable and refundable – at its depot on Ray Street.

By STEPHANIE WADDELL Star Reporter