TRASH PLAN TOSSED BACK
Council cool to variable costs
A proposal to introduce a pay-as-you-throw scheme for black carts could be sent back to the drawing board after Calgary councillors expressed concerns about the program’s costs and the potential for contamination with blue and green carts.
Council’s utilities committee did not approve the plan that would have scrapped the flat-rate fee for black cart pickup in favour of variable pricing.
Instead, councillors voted unanimously to ask administration to develop a detailed financial model for the program before returning to council early next year. The referral must still be approved by a full vote of council.
“I’m surprised at the negatives that seem to be showing up on this,” Coun. Peter Demong said ahead of Wednesday’s vote.
“As much as it would seem to be the right way to go to avoid excessive garbage to the landfill, (and) to actually allow choice to the consumer, from what the reports indicate, it’s almost the reverse: we have a higher (risk) of contamination and that concerns me greatly considering we already have contamination issues.”
The proposal would give Calgarians a choice in black cart sizes: 120 litres, the current 240-litre, and a larger 360-litre cart. Calgarians would also have the option of a “tag-a-bag ” program for waste that doesn’t fit into the black bin.
City officials had hoped the program could be rolled out in 2020.
Staff have warned about the possibility of increased contamination if some residents opt to take smaller carts based on cost and then dump excess waste into their blue and green bins.
There were also concerns raised in Wednesday’s meeting about Calgarians opting to pay for the largest bin in order to avoid the task of sorting their garbage.
“I’m not sold on variable cart sizes,” said Mayor Naheed Nenshi, who made a rare appearance at the utilities committee Wednesday.
“When I think about the incentive that we’re giving people: if we’re selling them a large cart — to not sort their trash — it seems to me that that is a greater incentive than the financial incentive of, ‘Oh, if I have less (waste), I might go to a smaller cart.’ While that may reduce the contamination of the green and blue carts, it does so in a way (that) increases landfill volume.”
A report on similar schemes in other municipalities showed mixed results with some cities reporting increased diversion of waste from landfills, while others saw an increase in contamination.
City hall has set a target to divert waste entering landfills by 70 per cent by 2025.
Administration hopes the payas-you-throw program will help Calgarians assume more financial responsibility for the amount of garbage they produce and therefore reduce their overall waste.
“We regularly hear from constituents who are doing the right thing and participating in the cart programs to their best extent and they want to be recognized for that (with) a smaller black cart and the opportunity to potentially pay less,” said Rick Valdarchi, director of waste and recycling services.
“What they ’re also interested in seeing is the accountability for the volume of waste you put out.”
But councillors were also concerned about the potential operational and capital costs. Administration said that the purchase of additional black cart sizes would cost the city about $10 million, so long as fewer than 50 per cent of residents choose a different cart size. Program costs, including inventory management and maintenance, are expected to increase with the addition of new cart sizes.
Demong wondered aloud whether the city should delay rolling out the program until after 2020 when the bulk of Calgary’s black carts will reach the end of their life cycle and need to be replaced.
Rather than scrap the proposal entirely, Nenshi introduced a motion to send it back to city administration for further work.
“I don’t want to throw the baby out with the black bin here because I think there’s an opportunity here,” Nenshi said.