OLDS — Waste collection costs are expected to soar due to inflation and poor recycling markets, so the town is looking at negotiating a one-year contract with Waste Connections, its solid waste collector, and making several changes to cut costs.
Those changes include:
• Suspending green bin pick-up between Nov. 1 this year and April 30 next year, although the big impact is expected to occur from Jan 1 to April 30;
• Reducing the number of three-yard compost bins from 100 to 40 and placing them in locations yet to be determined and
• Including the multi-family unit bins and town facility bins in the town’s waste collection contract.
Those suggestions were included in a report from administrative staff.
During its Oct. 3 policies and priorities meeting, town council voted to accept that report and have administrative staff bring the matter up for final decision at a future council meeting.
In its report, administrative staff noted that tipping fees alone are projected to soar from zero to $190.
In total, solid waste collection service costs are expected to rise from $680,000 in the town’s 2022 budget to $815,483 next year if no changes are made to the operation.
However, if the changes administrative staff have recommended are made, the total cost for the service is expected to be $687,738 in 2023.
“As expected, maintaining our current service levels requires a significant cost increase,” the report said. “However, with moderate changes to our service level, we can keep costs close to current amounts.”
Chief administrative officer Brent Williams told council: “I think the recycling tippage, regardless of which option we choose, is going from zero dollars to $190 per metric ton.
“That’s a reflection of the fact that recycling material is not worth as much as it once was when our current agreement was first signed, when they were charging nothing.
“I’m no economist nor solid waste specialist, but I’m pretty sure it has to go back to the fact that China has stopped buying recycled material."
Williams said the town’s current contract with Waste Connections is ending. He recommended negotiating a one-year extension and said the company is open to doing that.
That would buy time while the town grapples with demands for service versus costs.
Another reason, he said, is that with inflation soaring, this may not be the best time to hammer out a long-term contract.
“Trying to tender long-term right now is probably not in our favour. Will it be in our favour next year? We shall see,” he said.
Part of the problem is that recycling has become a costly business with few markets for the product, he said.
The stuff collected has to be sorted first because not all of the material collected has a market, he said.
Hence the imposition of a tipping fee, to help cover those costs.
Coun. Wanda Blatz noted that an earlier survey of residents found that most would like to see the green bin pickup halted during the winter because they don’t fill them up during that time.
The suggestion was to replace that pickup with an extra black bin pickup.
She asked if that will occur under this proposal. Williams said no, black bin pickup will remain as is.
Blatz said that decision has to be made “very clear to our residents – very clear.”
Mayor Judy Dahl wondered what people who consume a lot of vegetables and salads can do during the winter with their waste from that food.
“There’s a lot of people that do home cooking for their families and they do use that compost bin," Dahl said. “They need to know right now that there’ll be no other place for them to put their greens and their salad waste and their etc., etc."
Williams said “theoretically” residents could fill their green bin up with compostables during the winter until it becomes full, then put the remainder in black bins.
But overall, he didn't believe the lack of green bin pick-up would be a problem for most households.
Williams admitted these changes won’t be easy, but if the town wants to keep waste collection costs as low as possible “given the other pressures we're facing, trying something is better than trying nothing.”
Blatz said something also needs to be done to curb the “abuse” of the big three-yard bins that has occurred, especially this past summer.
"It was terrible. I don’t know how many social media photographs I saw that people used it for all kinds of non-compostable items,” she said.
Williams agreed.
“It was a significant problem this year,” he said. “I don’t know about before my time here, but I can’t count on two hands how many times I just heard of routinely our staff inside of those bins around town, trying to take out furniture or carcasses.”
Williams quickly hastened to clarify those carcasses were animal – not human, sparking some laughter.
“I think that’ll be on the news,” he said, noting a member of the news media was covering the meeting in council chambers.
That sparked more laughter.
Seriously though, Williams said there will be an education program about what can and cannot go in those bins.
He also said when the number of those three-yard bins is reduced, much planning will go into configuring and locating them to try to cut down on that abuse.
Coun. Dan Daley asked if the big yellow collection bins by the railway tracks and Westview Co-op will be affected by these changes.
Williams said they’re not under the town’s purview because they’re operated by the Mountain View Regional Waste Management Commission.
However, he suspected that commission might be driven to make changes too because they’re likely facing the same cost pressures.
