DIDSBURY - Town council has instructed administration to set up a delegation appearance by residential waste service provider Environmental 360 Solutions (e360S) to discuss the future of blue bin recycling in town.
The move came by way of motion at the Jan. 24 council meeting, held in person and on YouTube.
“We want e360S to come and answer questions about our recycling program and what are the current facts and what are they seeing. We want more information,” mayor Rhonda Hunter told the Albertan.
“A lot of municipalities have discontinued their recycling programs because recycling is in such limbo right now. They (e360S) are the ones that pick up the blue bins so we want to talk to them about what is actually happening to recycling in Alberta and in our region and in our town.”
In December, council instructed administration to explore the possibility of the discontinuation of the blue bin recycling program in town, which is administered by e360S, along with possible budget implications.
A report by administration on the matter was presented to council during the Jan. 24 council meeting.
The current cost of the blue bin per month per house is $4.58 and the current cost of the black bin per month per house is $2.87.
“However, the town separately pays the landfill tipping fee of $97 per tonne which currently works out to about $4.01 per bin per month, making the total cost of the black bin pick up $6.88,” administration said in the report.
The town’s recycling content in 2022 was approximately 230 metric tonnes.
“Administration expects that the weight of recycling will be less than that of solid waste. However, by adding an additional solid waste pick up it is also expected that additional garbage will be generated, making the weight of the new black bin pick up greater than normal recycling.
“Given that it is not apparent that there will be a significant cost savings and that the town’s provider has expressed that 85 to 90 per cent of recycling bin contents are currently recycled, it is recommended that the blue bin program remain in place.”
Council accepted the administration report as information and then passed the motion asking for the delegation appearance.
A time for the delegation appearance will depend on company representative availability, Hunter said.
“We will try to get them on the agenda as soon as they are available,” she said.
