Montreal has decided to crack down on Ricova, the company that manages recycling operations at sorting centers in Saint-Michel and Lachine. The City has declared Ricova, its sister companies, and their leader Dominic Colubriale ineligible for any tender or contract for a period of five years.
“We are faced with a worrying situation and action must be taken,” argued Marie-Andrée Mauger, head of ecological transition and the environment, during the weekly meeting of the executive committee on Wednesday morning. She pointed out that with its Residual Materials Management Master Plan adopted in 2020, the City had undertaken a process to favor a change of culture in the waste file, aimed in particular at reducing waste at source.
“There’s no way our administration is watching landfills in the metropolitan area fill up with arms crossed,” she said.
By declaring Ricova ineligible for any call for tenders or contract, the City is following up on one of the recommendations of the Office of Inspector General (BIG). In a report filed last March, the BIG criticized Ricova for keeping a margin of $20 per ton for the materials it resold. This measure contravened the contracts concluded with the City, estimated the OIG which had recommended the termination, as soon as possible, of the contracts with Ricova. In response, the company said it had never cheated the City of Montreal. Ricova had even argued that the City had never received so much revenue from recycling.
The City is also continuing its analysis of the two contracts still in force with Ricova that the OIG had recommended to terminate.
It should be noted that Ricova Services was selected in July 2020 to take over from Compagnie de recycling de papiers MD and Rebuts solids Canadiens in the management of the sorting centers in Lachine and Saint-Michel. Both companies were struggling financially.
Montreal has thus entered into an agreement with Services Ricova, a company headed by Dominic Colubriale, to operate the two sorting centres. Under these contracts, the company had to invoice the City for material sorting activities, and a clause provided for the sharing of revenues and losses.
Last February, a Radio-Canada report revealed a high rate of contamination of bales of paper. Some of these bales were transported to India, where they were used in particular as a combustion element in highly polluting factories.
Further details will follow.