by CONNIE TABBERT
Editor
COBDEN — The Environmental Services Committee of the Township of Whitewater Region is recommending cancelling the yellow bag program for curbside pickup and allowing a two-bag per week limit with collection cost recovery through a tax levy.
This recommendation was agreed to at the March Environmental Services Committee meeting. It must still be approved by council at the March 24 meeting.
Steve Hodson, Environmental Services manager, provided council a report regarding the curbside waste collection and alternatives.
“There are options,” he said. “Leave everything the way it is or change it.
“If you so choose to change it, there are things you can do.
“There are pros and cons to all of them,” he said.
There is no revenue generated from the yellow bag collection, Mr. Hodson said, as opposed to selling the bags, where there is revenue generated.
“We just more or less break even,” he said.
Mr. Hodson explained that he budgets for the purchase of the bags and the collection contract each year, totalling about $600,000 to $700,000. There is no extra levy on the taxpayer, he added.
“What you are doing, if you get away from using these bags and no longer charging $3 for each bag, is you are losing that revenue,” he said, adding, “I’ve already budgeted for the collection costs. I don’t have to buy bags anymore, but that ($3 per bag) revenue is gone.”
He can stop buying the yellow bags and distributing them throughout the township to the locations that sell them and people can buy whatever bag they want. He noted it would be suggested that a two-limit bag each week with a certain weight per bag be agreed to.
Councillor Charlene Jackson said this discussion occurred because people are concerned with the flimsy bags and she suggested instead of continuing with the yellow bag program, a flat rate be collected off each residential household, which is what happens in Laurentian Valley Township.
She also suggested changing the way garbage is collected because it seems, from Mr. Hodson’s report, that only 27 percent of the households in the township allowed for pick-up use the curbside pick-up.
“Where is the rest of the garbage going?” she questioned.
Mr. Hodson said people bring it to the landfill themselves or to other municipalities.
Coun. Jackson said people aren’t using the waste site, but it will be used more if people are paying for it on their tax bill and they can put out two bags each week.
She is concerned with what she’s hearing, such as people dumping garbage down private laneways and roadways, as well as in the bush or burning garbage. By changing the program, these kinds of things would be discouraged, she said.
“It’s difficult for residents to actually go out and buy these bags,” Coun. Jackson said. “The grocery stores are only open sometimes.”
Councillor Dave Mackay said with only 27 percent of the garbage being picked up, then 73 percent more will be picked up, which means more equipment.
However, Mr. Hodson said 100 percent pick-up is calculated in the waste collection budget.
“The contractor has to drive the route regardless if one bag is put out or 600,” he said. “They have the equipment.”
Mr. Hodson said if people can buy whatever bag they want, at whatever retailer they want, there is going to be an increase in curbside usage, which is great, because the taxpayers are already paying for this.
However, the revenue from the garbage bags would be gone, which is probably about $130,000, he said.
Coun. Jackson said that revenue could then be re-generated by the tax levy. She suggested any costs related to the curbside collection be tallied and divided by the number of households in the township and that would be the levy on the tax bill.
Councillor Chris Olmstead doesn’t believe the township is getting good value for the current contract because less than half the households use the curbside collection. On his street, he noted about three households use the yellow bag system.
“I think, for a better system, let people put out whatever they want and get more usage,” he said.
Mayor Hal Johnson said he likes user-fee. He uses about one yellow bag each month. If he gets charged on his taxes, he’s going to use two bags each week.
“I’m still a fan of user-fee,” he said.
Mr. Hodson said if people are allowed to put out their own bags, more bags will be put out. Currently, about 850 bags a week are collected each week. With the proposed new system, it’s logical to expect 3,000 bags will be collected each week. But, he explained, even though only 850 bags a week are collected, there are people who bring their garbage to the site each week, so it could be just as much garbage.
Coun. Jackson said there are 3,128 stops and dividing that by $130,000 (the lost bag revenue), it would come out to $41.56 annually, which works out currently to 13 bags a year.
However, Coun. Jackson said when she considered this proposal, she didn’t factor in the other expenses of a waste site, since Laurentian Valley doesn’t have that added expense. By calculating in other expenses, the levy would have to increase to about $100 a year, she explained.
Councillor Daryl McLaughlin said he doesn’t care what the cost is, his concern is the landfill.
“To me, the reason that we went to user-pay is so that people would keep recycling, reducing, make it smaller, so our landfill doesn’t fill up,” he said.
“We start this and I can see what will happen.”
Coun. McLaughlin is concerned everyone will put out two bags each week, which means the landfill life is cut from 25 years down to about 13 years.
“I think we have a precious piece of real estate that we need to look after and that’s why I’m like Mayor Johnson, I certainly want to stay with user-pay,” he said. “Where it goes is not my concern. My biggest concern is the landfill and how quick it fills up.”
He added that transfer stations are already being considered because the landfill is filling up quickly now.
Coun. Olmstead said garbage from the township, besides curbside pick-up, goes to the landfill because each Saturday, it’s busy with people driving there.
“There’s a ton of activity there on a Saturday and on a Wednesday up until two o’clock,” he said. “For people to say the garbage is leaving our region, maybe one or two percent, but the bulk of it is ending up in the landfill.”
Mayor Johnson said who cares if it goes to another municipality instead of Whitewater Region’s – that’s just a bonus.
“We have to start looking down the road, unfortunately, at a lot of different things with our dump site,” he said. “One of them, I believe Steve has brought to our attention before, is we have to start thinking strongly about some of our bags being taken to other places for disposal and that has to be discussed and brought forward too.
Mayor Johnson noted regardless of the type of curbside pick-up allowed in the municipality, people will continue to go to the landfill each week.
“That’s what they do on a Saturday morning,” he said.
Mayor Johnson said something else to consider is the garbage blowing onto the roadsides from vehicles travelling with garbage in the back.
“It’s pathetic what blows off vehicles,” he said.
He suggested a fine be placed on vehicles that come into the landfill site without a tarp on them.
Coun. Jackson believes the amount of garbage at the landfill site will be reduced, because if only entitled to two bags, already paying for it on your taxes, you are not going to add a full truck load each week or each month. Explaining, she said for those who normally go to the landfill, they’ll put the garbage at the end of their driveway, which will not total a truckload.
“It will also reduce the garbage along the different roads because people aren’t tarping,” she said.
Councillor Cathy Regier said try it for a year and if it doesn’t work, the system can be changed. She said some people will recycle while others won’t, regardless of what is suggested. She also noted people will continue to drive to the landfill site with their garbage regardless of what system is used.
She suggested a spring and fall pick-up of bulky items at the end of the driveways, which may cut down on traffic to the landfill site.
However, Mr. Hodson doesn’t believe these bulky item pick-ups make a municipality look nice or work. It’s cheaper to let people bring garbage to the landfill site, because bulky item pick-ups mean a front-end loader and dump truck are needed.
“There’s a landfill at the end of everybody’s driveway,” he said. “It’s highly, highly abused, and so are free landfill days.”
Consumerism and shopping practices, need to change, Mr. Hodson said.
“As long as we keep shopping, we’re going to have the crisis of where are we going to put all this plastic,” he said. “People produce garbage.”
People will continue to recycle in their own way, he said. He also noted that recycling is only cost-effective in big cities.
As for garbage along the roadsides, Mr. Hodson said there will always be people who toss out garbage.
This is just step one in a bigger picture, he said.
“We can have it some day that none of these bags make it to our landfill, they’ll be picked up and go to a private landfill,” he said.
“Our contractor that we have right now, takes garbage to Moose Creek,” he said. “There’s no reason we can’t arrange to have them do that for us, everything that’s picked up, which means it doesn’t even come to our site, if we want to make the landfill last longer.
“We’re lucky we still have one.”
In reviewing revenue for the landfill site, Mr. Hodson said $184,000 is brought in through tipping fees and $130,000 through the sale of bags. Those two revenue sources only pay half the waste management budget.
Coun. Olmstead said local businesses provide the service to the township to sell the bags, but the onus should not be on the businesses.
It was noted that for each bag sold, each business receives 25 cents.
Mayor Johnson said try the new way starting immediately, which mean bags won’t have to be ordered.
Following a vote of 4-3 at the committee meeting, with Reeve Millar and councillors Mackay and McLaughlin voting against, it was agreed that Mr. Hodson bring a policy to the March 24 council meeting. This policy would include such things as when the program would begin, how many bags can be put out, weight restrictions and other details.
