The largest sorting center in Quebec, located in Saint-Michel, will close at the end of the month, the Plante administration confirmed this week.
The complex belongs to the city, but has been operated by the company Ricova for several years.
“The Saint-Michel sorting center closes on September 30. […] “There is no question of an extension,” assured Marie-Andrée Mauger, the elected official responsible for the environment on Valérie Plante’s executive committee, in an interview.
“At 1er October, there is a transition plan for sorting and processing recyclable materials,” she continued. This plan provides for sending more materials to sorting centers on the outskirts of Montreal. “We are not worried about stacking bales.”
Then, on January 2, 2025, Éco Entreprises Québec must open a sorting center located in Montreal East, confirmed Anne-Julie Maltais, in charge of communications for the organization. Éco Entreprise Québec will now be responsible for the management of recyclable materials throughout the province.
Mme Mauger was speaking as part of a review by the City of Montreal regarding the end of the Publisac. According to Montreal, the amount of paper to be sorted has been divided by six in recent months. The number of plastic bags has also been significantly reduced.
An operator in conflict with the City
The Saint-Michel sorting center has been operating for over thirty years near the former Miron quarry. Each year, it sorts several tens of thousands of tons of recyclable materials.
In 2018, the City of Montreal wrote a $30 million check to operator Canadian Solid Waste to try to keep it afloat. It went bankrupt the following year.
The facility has been in the news in recent years, when its operation was taken over by the company Ricova. The company quickly found itself in conflict with the City of Montreal. The normal blue bin collection was even put in jeopardy in 2022 because Ricova could not find outlets for the recyclable material and the bales were piling up around the plant.
Last year, Ricova announced that it had invested $6 million to modernize the Saint-Michel sorting center, hoping to obtain a contract extension with the City of Montreal. The company declined to comment on the situation.