Merritt’s director of corporate services is hopeful the community’s recycling habits will shape up in the coming weeks.

Following the first week of a month-long inspection program to ensure the city adheres to Recycle BC’s requirements, Smith said there is quite a bit work left to do.

A good number of curbside bins were left uncollected in the first week, he said, with a note for the home owner indicating what was incorrectly placed into their bin.

“Really the recycling requirements themselves didn’t change, what has changed is the degree to which the city is required to adhere to those recycling requirements. There was a little bit more flexibility before,” said Smith. “There are a lot of people who are upset and I understand that, because it is going to be a learning curve for the citizens but it is a learning curve for the city as well.”

On the first day of dropping off Merritt’s recycling with Recycle BC, the city learned the community’s contamination rate was 20 per cent, exceeding the program’s three per cent contamination cap.

“We were told in no uncertain words that that type of contamination just wasn’t going to be acceptable going forward — that the city would be fined $2,500 for each instance, and that if it continued we wouldn’t be able to continue with this opportunity to participate in the recycling program,” said Smith. “So for the city this is really all about making sure we can work with the citizens to produce a clean recycling stream. Because if we want to have the privilege to recycle, we need to make sure that what we have collectively is clean and marketable.”

The city will continue providing feedback to citizens whose recycling bins don’t make the grade — and leaving those bins to be corrected — for the next three weeks.

“In one sense I am not upset that it has generated a lot of conversation around recycling. It is unfortunate that it has been as chaotic and frustrating for people as it has, but I’m hopeful with four weeks that will be sufficient,” said Smith.

“If not, we really do not want to go the route of fining people, because this is ultimately a service for citizens and it’s something we rely on everybody’s good faith and willingness to participate in.”

For a list of what can and cannot be placed in curbside recycling bins in Merritt, visit the City of Merritt website.