The path is now clear for the Yukon government to create new regulations that will fundamentally change recycling in the territory.

That may involve the eventual creation of new curbside pickup services and the reintroduction of glass and styrofoam recycling.

The last major hurdle for the new rules was cleared Monday with the passage of a bill altering the Environment Act.

Manufacturers, importers and retailers will soon be forced to pay for the territory’s recycling through a system in which those producers are charged for the amount of recycling they create.

Similar regulations are already in place in all the provinces.

“We are proud to say that Yukon will become the first territory in Canada to join this well-established system,” Environment Minister Nils Clarke told the legislature on Oct. 17.

The change to the Environment Act was needed to make sure the new rules could be enforced for larger producers based outside the Yukon as well as small local ones.

It passed the legislature unanimously on Oct. 18 and was granted assent Monday.

The regulations can now come into force beginning this winter.

However, it will take two years to create and implement the stewardship plan that will detail how the program actually works.

Most of these types of systems work through organizations such as Recycle BC that oversee the recycling system and set the rates producers pay. Often, this framework is also built around existing services.

Currently in the Yukon, there are two recycling processors offering drop-off service for both refundable recycling – such as aluminum cans – and non-refundable recycling – such as cardboard.

There is also a private curbside collector called Whitehorse Blue Bin Recycling, which collects recyclables and uses the services of the two processors.

Those processors then sell the recyclables in markets in B.C. and elsewhere that move the material toward actual recycling.

Some material is worthwhile to ship out and some is not. That’s why things such as non-refundable glass, styrofoam and soft plastics are not currently accepted at the drop-offs.

Once the new system is in place, the producers will be paying for the recycling, making it viable to start recycling those materials in the territory again.

“It is currently our intention to include glass and Styrofoam in our extended producer responsibility system,” Clarke told the legislature on Oct. 18.

Then there is the question of how the recycling will be picked up and processed under the new system.

As most of these producer systems use the infrastructure already in place, this means the two depots in Whitehorse would probably be involved.

In a bid to force the Yukon government and the City of Whitehorse to make sure curbside collection is included in the new program, Raven ReCentre, the largest of these depots, is slated to shut its free public drop-off bins effective Jan. 1.

The other recycling depot in Whitehorse, P & M, has told the Star it would in turn close its bins if Raven does because it could not handle the amount of processing it would be left with.

Both depots will continue taking refundables.

Heather Ashthorn, Raven’s executive director, has said that if a curbside program is enacted, it would fill the gap and provide drop-off service to country residential households that don’t have access to pickup and would provide drop-off service for businesses for a fee.

Raven could also continue as a processor in this new system.

The issue at this point is that the deadline for the closure of the drop-off bins is approaching, but the implementation of the new program is to take at least two years.

Community Services Minister Richard Mostyn told reporters on Oct. 11 he is optimistic that they will be able to demonstrate enough progress by the deadline to convince Raven to keep accepting drop-offs in the interim while the new system is developed.

“As I understand, talking to the folks at Raven, they want to see tangible progress,” Mostyn said. “And if they can see that, then they will extend their deadlines.”