How proposed changes to provincial recycling program will affect small businesses

A new provincial recycling program is affecting Hamilton business owners already struggling to make ends meet.

The City of Hamilton’s waste management sub-committee met on Monday to discuss its own program for local businesses and city properties.

As no permanent funding solution is in sight, recycling costs will ultimately fall to the business owner.

The provincial government changed its Blue Box Program and what it will cover.

In Hamilton, there are over 2,800 local businesses and city properties whose recycling costs are currently funded by a city reserve fund.

If this fund expires on schedule by March 2027, local businesses such as the Donut Monster on Locke Street, will have to absorb that cost.

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“If it’s similar to our garbage, I would estimate it would add about $200 every other week to our expenses,” says Vanessa Faber, general manager of the Donut Monster.

Faber says this would mean the lack of funding burden would fall on the consumer.

“With how everything is going in the world lately, I imagine that we would have to do an incremental price increase maybe on certain things just to cover that cost,” she says.

“A lot of municipalities are dealing with this issue across the province,” says Ryan Kent, manager for waste policy and planning for the City of Hamilton.

Kent says the city approved funding for the first three months of 2027, to cover the recycling service not covered by the province.

This issue will be addressed by council during the 2027 budgetary talks.

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Kent says the first option is that council finds the money and it comes out of the operating budget to cover the costs until the current waste contract ends in April 2029.

“Option two would be if that isn’t decided upon by the newly formed council, that service would have to end.”

If this happens, one business on Locke street told CHCH News, they would transport their recycling directly to the appropriate facility since they don’t have a high volume collected week-to-week.

At Donut Monster, this would mean serious economic impact and a huge issue in an election year.

“As a manager of a small business, I would say this is pretty important. It would affect us on a weekly, day-to-day basis. It would change how we plan things out and pay for things,” Faber says.

In the meantime, the city of Hamilton is working with other municipalities to lobby the provincial government for its program to include non-residential properties.

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