Cost rises for diverting food scraps from landfill

Sole bid comes in at $121,000 more than CRD budgeted — and Victoria mayor wants a different approach

The cost of diverting kitchen scraps from the landfill is going up.

The only bid received for collecting and hauling the food scraps that are being diverted from the landfill came in at about $121,000 more than budgeted, members of the Capital Regional District’s environmental services committee were told this week.

Committee members are recommending the CRD board award D.L. Bins the three-year contract at a rate of $143.73 a tonne for about 6,500 tonnes a year at an estimated annual cost of $934,245.

“I hope it’s the last time that we’re doing this. We’ve got clear direction now to our staff to get a kitchen-scraps processing facility up and running or find an alternative on the Island,” said Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps, a committee member.

“Clearly, there’s a market. So if we do get into building our own facility, I think there’s a real opportunity there,” she said.

The CRD decided in 2012 to ban kitchen scraps from Hartland Landfill entirely in 2015, as part of an effort to extend the life of the landfill by diverting waste for recycling.

But the CRD’s food-scraps program has had problems. After signing up with Foundation Organics to compost waste in Central Saanich, the CRD was swamped by odour complaints.

The firm’s licence was pulled in 2013 and the CRD started trucking collected organic waste to Richmond for processing.

It signed a contract with D.L. Bins in 2016, which processes the scraps at Enviro-Smart Organics in Delta and at Fischer Road Recycling in Cobble Hill.

A staff report noted that D.L. Bins’ rate of $143.73 a tonne is “significantly higher” than the company’s previous contract rate of $116.22 per tonne.

When budgeting, CRD staff had estimated costs of $125 per tonne for kitchen scraps hauling and processing, meaning the annualized cost for this work will be about $121,000 more than was budgeted.

The rate is subject to an annual 1.5 per cent adjustment for inflation beginning January 2019, meaning the per tonne fee will rise to $145.89 in 2019, to $148.07 in 2020 and to $150.30 for the two months of 2021 for an average per tonne fee of about $146 over the term of the contract, the staff report says.

The cost of food scraps likely will have a ripple effect down the road on local haulers dropping off food scraps at a transfer station at the Hartland Landfill.

The CRD currently charges, $120 per tonne for food scraps meaning there will be a net cost to the CRD of $26 per tonne over the life of the contract.

Increasing that tipping fee to $146 a tonne to cover costs would represent a 22 per cent increase, the staff report notes.

The committee agreed that the region should hold off until the new year before implementing such a large increase to give customers a chance to adjust.

“In order to provide time for both municipalities to adjust their budgets and for businesses to adjust rates charged to their customers, should the board wish to implement an increased tipping fee, it should be put into effect beginning Jan. 1, 2019,” the staff report says.

Sidney, Esquimalt and View Royal all have organics collected through the CRD. Saanich, Victoria and Oak Bay all haul organics to Fisher Road in Cobble Hill.

Elsewhere in the West Shore, all garbage collection, including organics, is private.