Nine employees will be losing their jobs at the end of December with the closure of the R.A.R.E. (Recyclage Alexandria Recycling Équipe) recyclable material sorting facility.
North Glengarry Township notified employees in mid-September that the centre, which has operated since the 1990s, was being shut down.
RARE workers are concerned for future employment since it’s not as though they can apply to another local recycling plant — 54 recycling plants in Ontario will be closing. Only six plants will remain open. With government changes to the recycling program through Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), making the companies that sell packaged goods responsible for recycling and managing the waste, municipalities are closing their recycling centres.
At press time, North Glengarry had not formally announced the closure of the facility located in the Alexandria industrial park.
The decision, prompted by a reduction in provincial subsidies for recycling centres, obviously raises questions about the nature of future recycling programs.
In North Glengarry, for example, where will residents go to drop off their hazardous waste and their electronic recycling? Further, who will be doing the large item and yard waste pickup? Will residents now have to transport these items to a disposal place themselves, possibly causing more items to end up in the garbage, or worse, in ditches along the county roads? Or will an independent contractor be hired by the Township?
Rumours have been circulating for awhile about the possibility of these closures due to the government changes through EPR and financial concerns for R.A.R.E.
In the 2024 municipal budget, the sorting facility was expected to have $591,757 in expenses and revenues of $506,660, for a deficit of $85,097. Wages and benefits were expected to total $433,572.
