Bob Campbell, vice chairman of Surrey's Environmental Advisory Committee, brought forth issues with the city's current recycling contract in a Sept. 28 meeting.

In the meeting minutes, Campbell said there are no targets set in the contract.

He said the contract should use the strictest language, including industrystandard targets, to ensure commercially reasonable efforts to minimize garbage.

"We think that when citizens of Surrey put recycling in their blue box, that they believe that those articles are going to the best and highest use," Campbell told the Now. "The bottom line is that we were not able to find out exactly what performance was being achieved."

In the meeting minutes, Campbell said the contract does not require regular reporting from the contractor; however, he noted the contractor is obligated to provide reporting when it is requested by the city.

Campbell said the city has absolved itself of hiring the entity responsible for sorting the recyclables once they have been picked up. He said the city should select the vendor who is sorting the recyclables. "Why isn't it more transparent?" Campbell asked.

In October, the EAC drafted a letter to city staff asking them to consider the issues identified within the contract.

"It's time sensitive," said Coun. Bob Bose, the council representative on the committee. "They're in the process of evaluating the RFP (request for proposals) as far as I understand."

Bose wants to see more accountability. "We have to be good stewards of the waste we generate." areid@thenownewspaper.com

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