Near the eastern end of the island, a dump truck goes back in the new Montreal Recycling Classification Center and Discharge Pap, cardboard, plastic, glass, cans, and anything else that people have put in their blue containers .
From there, the mass of material is loaded in the conveyor belts, then through a series of optical classifiers that use sensors, magnets and blowers to separate the elements by type.
Almost the entire process is automated: only about 20 people help classify the material, said Carl D’Astous, director of special projects with Matre-GFL, who builds and operates the installation.
The center, announced as one of the most technologically advanced in North America, was opened at the beginning of 2025.
The recyclables collected on the western side of Montreal will still go to the classification center in Lachine.
Recycling is changing in Quebec, starting with what you can put in the blue container, and this new high -tech classification center in the East End of Montreal. But obstacles remain to obtain more of the recyclable materials of the province in reality.
The new installation, in an industrial section of Montreal-Eest, is designed to process up to 20 percent of the total collection of the province.
It is also intended to produce paper, plastic and other materials that will be recycled in Quebec or near Canada or the United States.
In the past, paper bundles mixed with plastic, old clothing and metal pieces They were sent to India And elsewhere, where much of the material ended up in landfills.
As recently as 2021, almost 40 percent of recyclable in the classification centers were sent outside the province.
ONO IN PRODUCERS
The center in Montreal-Eest is part of a broader change in the way Quebec Aired recycling system It is managed.
As of January 1, the collection, classification and sale of recyclable material is now administered by Éco Entreprises Québec (EEQ), a non -profit organization that represents producers.
The new center in Montreal-Eest was designed to process up to 20 percent of the total collection of the Quebec sidewalk.
The change was destined to put the responsibility of the companies that manufacture containers and packaging, said Environment Minister Benoit Chartte.
“Before the government was responsible for regulation, it was also responsible for the application of regulation. Now it is the producers who have that responsibility,” Chartte said.
According to the new system, almost all containers and containers are allowed in their blue container, with only three exceptions: aerosol cans, polystyrene packaging and compostable bags.
Maryse Vermette, the US head, acknowledged that it does not mean that everything in the classification center is recycled, emphasizing that there will be a “transition” period.
“It’s going to be a challenge,” he said.
For example, the material known as “flexible plastic”, which includes things such as chip bags and bag bags, remains complicated to recycle and is a “challenge everywhere in North America, even in Europe,” he said.
EEQ is exploring the possibility of converting these plastics difficult to recycle into energy through a chemical process, said Vermette.
She said they had reached an agreement with a local company to use glass in construction materials. Previously, much of Montreal’s glass It ended in landfills.
Quebec’s change aligns it with several other provinces, including British Ontario and Columbia, said Karen Wirsig, plastic program manager in the Environmental Defense Defense Group.
The idea is that the producers will be forced to the transition to the easiest material to recycle to avoid paying a rate for items that are more expensive or difficult to recycle, Wirsig said.
“In general, metal, paper, glass are much more recyclable and recycled in practice, but for plastics, this will present a challenge for these companies,” he said.
Wirsig warned that some of the proposals to deal with plastic, in some cases, burning it, equivalent to an expensive green washing form, with their own environmental concerns.
“It’s a very expensive process,” he said. “Frankly, for plastics, I think that short -term recycling recycling is not on the table, I think.”
Checks and balances
In general, the new installation represents a positive step for the recycling in Quebec, said Karel Ménard, an environmental activist for a long time and head of the Quebec coalition for organic waste management.
In an ideal world, people would classify their recyclable at home and be sent separately to be recycled, he said.
But in your opinion, the new installation is the following best option, because the latest generation classification process will lead to lower pollution.
“The value of the material will be greater … so it will help the recyclable material to be recycled,” he said.
EEQ plans to expand recycling services to QUEBEC communities, build more facilities such as Montreal-Eest and add new equipment to others, such as the Lachine classification center, said Vermette.
The EEQ also has the mandate to provide Quebec government regular updates to determine if the system is working. An EEQ spokesman said Monday that it was too soon to provide a breakdown of where recyclable material was now being sent, since it has only been five weeks since the organization took over.
Myra Hira, a professor of environmental studies at Queen’s University, emphasized that a reduction in packaging, not improved recycling, should be the final objective.
“The key here is to focus less on recycling and more on the design of products and containers to reduce the amount of waste that each produces in the first place,” he wrote in an email, adding that the government should look for ways to force to “companies to reduce packaging and ecological design products to last longer and have a reduced environmental footprint.”
