Jan. 6, 2019 CBC: "The recycling market has become more saturated, forcing municipalities to change what they collect..."

"One solution to the region's recycling woes could be an extended producer responsibility (EPR) program, which makes the producer responsible for a portion of the financial costs of a product's life cycle. Most provinces in Canada have EPR programs, though Alberta has not yet implemented one."

Seidel sees EPR as something that can alleviate some financial pressures on municipalities, which are forced to spend time and money to find places to send their plastic, cardboard or paper recyclables... municipalities should not be forced to pony up for recycling costs.
"At the end of the day, it's going to be the municipalities that realize they should not be the ones holding the bag, not just on cost but on the responsibility of making sure this material is properly handled," she said. "They shouldn't be the ones that are held at ransom and have to find markets for materials that are very difficult to handle. That really should be the industry, and that's where the EPR comes in."
Seidel said the days of blue bins being catch-alls for Albertans are over. "We've made it almost too easy on all residents in the past. In reality, the most important thing is to make recycling effective."