Metro Vancouver directors haven’t hung up the phone just yet on the province’s recycling hotline.

After about an hour’s raucous debate Friday, the directors agreed to reverse an earlier decision and give the Recycling Council of B.C. a $60,000 grant to run its telephone hotline service for 2012.

But the funding comes with a proviso: that the recycling council work with Metro Vancouver to come up with a plan to reintegrate their recycling services with the regional district by the end of 2012.

The RCBC grant got the green light as part of a $614-million budget for 2012 that was approved by the regional board on Friday.

The budget is up 1.2 per cent, or $7 million, from the 2011 budget, which works out to an $11 increase (to $524) for the average owner of a $600,000 home.

Metro Vancouver agreed to provide the grant following a presentation by Brock Macdonald, executive director of the Recycling Council of B.C., who argued that the recycling hotline answers about 100,000 calls a year.

Those callers are often older residents, new immigrants, or people just crossing municipal boundaries — perhaps from Burnaby to Vancouver — who are confused about recycling services, he said.

Port Moody Mayor Greg Moore, head of Metro’s waste management committee, said while the recycling hotline is a “superior” service, it goes hand in hand with Metro’s recycling website, so it would make sense to run them together.

He noted the $60,000 could go a long way to improving the system at the regional district level, and urged the directors to set a deadline for an agreement between the two organizations.

Macdonald noted the recycling council has some technological and contractual barriers to joining Metro Vancouver but will look into how the two can be combined.

Burnaby Mayor Derek Corrigan was opposed to providing the grant, noting that the budget had already been set.

Meanwhile, Metro’s finance committee chairman Malcolm Brodie said the 2012 budget will allow the region to “continue to operate and repair billions of dollars worth of assets, but also to continue to invest in necessary major capital projects that greatly enhance our regional services.”

“These are huge projects like a new ultraviolet treatment plant for Coquitlam source drinking water and a new water crossing under the Fraser River at Port Mann, for south of the Fraser communities,” the Richmond mayor said in a statement.

“Those are just two examples of the region-wide infrastructure improvement projects that support our communities and our regional economy.”