Eastman Recycling Services has announced the end date of its contract with the Rural Municipality of Hannover.
In mid-January, enVision Community Living, which created Eastman Recycling Services, announced plans to close recycling services within the next year. At the time, executive director Jeannette DeLong noted that over the past few years, they have seen the recycling industry move towards a highly automated model while their business continues to operate with a hands-on workforce. She said keeping pace with the industry, along with rising operating and capital costs and managing increased liabilities, takes them away from their original goal of creating meaningful work for people living with HIV. intellectual disability.
RM Hannover have now been informed that their retraining contract will end on November 4.
Hanover Reeve Stan Toews says enVision’s decision to exit the recycling industry came as a complete surprise, noting that they had no desire for the move to even be considered.
“They provide excellent service,” notes Toews. “But they have different plans.”
Toews says Eastman is definitely not quitting because of their service or because Hanover doesn’t want them anymore.
The task now for Hanover is to find a new collector. Toews notes that they will soon be sending out an RFP to other vendors in southern Manitoba, including Winnipeg, to see if there is interest. He explains that Hannover will do this in collaboration with the city of Steinbach. Toews says these will be separate contracts, but hopefully there may be a contractor willing to offer a better deal by providing the service to both Hanover and Steinbach.
Toews says he believes recycling is becoming increasingly popular in his municipality, noting that over the years the amount of recycling has steadily increased. For the past few years, Hanover has spent money purchasing recycling bins so Eastman Recycling can operate a less labor intensive operation.