Bottles and paper products sit on a Montreal sidewalk waiting to get picked up. (CBC) The Quebec government's new plan to help the province's recycling companies doesn't do enough to sort out the major problems facing the industry, critics say.

Faced with a collapsing market in China and few interested buyers on the horizon, the 38 centres that sort and sell recycled material in Quebec are stockpiling their products.

The price of paper on the world markets in December was about one-fifth its value in October.

"Nobody could have seen this dramatic fall coming," said Quebec Environment Minister Line Beauchamp.

Beauchamp announced a three-point plan to help the industry, including:

• Loan guarantees for sorting centres.
• A $4.8 million fund to help the companies update their facilities and improve the quality of their products.
• Permission for municipalities to reopen their contracts with recycling companies.

However, the government's plan does not include the direct financial aid the industry was asking for.

Jean-Guy Doucet said the loan guarantees would only keep his sorting centre in Trois-Rivières afloat for a short time.

"We will perhaps use the loans to give us a month or two more," said Doucet, who is president of Récuperation Mauricie.

No money to expand market in Quebec

Environmentalists in Quebec said the plan doesn't address a major problem with the industry — the shrinking market for the product.

Karel Menard, director of the Common Front for the Ecological Management of Waste, said the government should have put in place a plan to develop a market for recycled products in Quebec itself.

For example, he said, the province could require manufacturers use a certain amount of recycled matter in their products.

"Products like a margarine pot , a newspaper — you should have an obligation to put [in] a minimum [amount] of recycled material. Now, there is no obligation," said Menard.

He said the government could also create a marketing agency to guarantee recycling companies a minimum price for their goods.

Montreal signed new recycling deal Jan. 1

The City of Montreal is particularly interested in the section of Beauchamp's plan that gives municipalities an option to reopen their contracts with the companies that pick up local recycling.

The idea is to allow cities that are able to pay more for the service to renegotiate — in order to keep their contractors afloat.

'The changing conditions right now are definitely a concern to us.'— Alan DeSousa, Montreal city councillor

Montreal signed a new 10-year deal with the sorting service Groupe TIRU at the beginning of this year.

The company, anticipating steady revenues on the sales of the finished product, had agreed to provide the city with sorting services free of charge.

Alan DeSousa, the city councillor in charge of sustainable development, said the city is now studying what the minister's plan could mean.

"The changing conditions right now are definitely a concern to us. They are a concern to me," he said.

"We have built a link of confidence with our citizens over the past 20 years where people contribute to recycling, and clearly, we're very sensitive to the troubles that are being faced in the industry."