9 jobs lost as recycling center closes

Kim Burton-Schram, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Nine employees will lose their jobs at the end of December with the closure of the RARE (Recyclage Alexandria Recycling Équipe) recyclables sorting facility.

North Glengarry Township notified employees in mid-September that the center, which has been in operation since the 1990s, would close.

RARE employees are concerned about future employment because they cannot apply to another local recycling facility; 54 recycling facilities in Ontario will close. Only six facilities will remain open. With the government’s changes to the recycling program through Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), making companies selling packaged products responsible for the recycling and management of waste, municipalities are closing recycling centres.

At the time of this writing, North Glengarry had not officially announced the closure of the facility located in the Alexandria industrial park.

The decision, prompted by the reduction of state subsidies for recycling centers, clearly raises questions about the nature of future recycling programs.

In North Glengarry, for example, where will residents drop off their hazardous waste and electronics recycling? Also, who will pick up bulky items and yard waste? Will residents now have to haul these items to a disposal point themselves, possibly resulting in more items ending up in the trash or, worse, ditches on county roads? Or will an independent contractor be hired by the City?

Rumors have been circulating for some time about the possibility of these closures due to government changes through the EPR and financial concerns for RARE.

In the 2024 city budget, the separation plant was expected to have expenses of $591,757 and revenue of $506,660, with a deficit of $85,097. The total of pay and benefits was expected to be $433,572.