The Coquitlam-based company, KMS Tools & Equipment Ltd., has been fined $19,000 by the province for refusing to comply with recycling regulations.
“I’ll be going to jail before I comply,” KMS Tools President Stan Pridham wrote in an email to the ministry.Its regulatory infractions, however, related to more than one tonne of flyers, booklets, catalogs, and other packaging and paper products it distributes to its residential and industrial customers.
The regulations, amended in 2011 to include paper products, are intended to make companies more environmentally friendly and produce less waste. The company criticized RecycleBC because it’s not headquartered in B.C. This point is irrelevant to the regulations, the ministry responded. “I find that KMS Tools simply refused to do this, for its own reasons, none of which are supported by any relevance to the regulation’s requirements,” the ministry’s determination stated.
Allowing select producers to skirt these obligations would create an uneven playing field, the ministry concluded.
I hope KMS is able to get the Ministry to back off. We are over regulated and this is a meaningless regulation.
I hope KMS is able to get the Ministry to back off. We are over regulated and this is a meaningless regulation.