$1.3M loss

Unpopular regional green bin collection costs council big

WATERLOO REGION — Regional council has reached a bitter milestone — the first $1.3 million it has lost on green bins.

Council lost the money over 12 months, sending less than half the kitchen scraps it agreed to supply to a composting facility built by the City of Guelph.

“In the overall scheme of the regional budget, it’s not a huge amount, but it’s still a significant amount,” Regional Chair Ken Seiling said. “The uptake on the green bin hasn’t been as successful as we hoped, and we’ve got to work much harder at it.”

Regional government expects to lose another $1.3 million in the next 12 months if the unpopular bins gain no converts. That’s a likely outcome — residents are putting less waste into green bins while council moves deeper into a contract to compost kitchen scraps and spread it on farm fields.

The first year of a 10-year contract with Guelph concludes Oct. 14. Council agreed to pay Guelph to compost 20,000 tonnes a year, but estimates sending only 8,870 tonnes.

In Year 2, regional government expects to send 9,000 tonnes.

Taxpayers are losing because council still has to pay Guelph to compost 11,000 tonnes not collected or sent, at a cost that edges up this month to $120 per tonne.

“The Region of Waterloo, based on their population, should easily be able to get to 20,000 tonnes,” said Dean Wyman, Guelph’s general manager of solid waste resources. “I expect creative ideas that will allow them to ramp up and achieve that tonnage fairly quickly.”

Guelph defends the contract, after building a $32-million facility at a size to handle Waterloo Region waste.

Residents find green bins messy and inconvenient. Only 15 to 35 per cent of local houses put them at the curb. It’s estimated the bins collect only 19 per cent of waste that could be composted.

Green bins shattered in extreme cold last winter, persuading some people to give up even though broken bins are replaced for free.

“If it’s something you’re not all that keen on anyway, and you have any easy excuse to stop, a broken bin is a great excuse to stop,” said Cari Howard, a project manager in regional waste management.

Green bins collected 9,521tonnes in 2011, the first full year.

Collection dropped in 2012 and again in 2013 to 8,994 tonnes. For this year the estimate is 9,000 tonnes.

Regional government is advertising, knocking on doors, talking to residents, and conducting focus groups to find out why

IN QUOTES DEAN WYMAN GUELPH’S GENERAL MANAGER OF SOLID WASTE RESOURCES I expect creative ideas that will allow them to ramp up and achieve that tonnage fairly quickly.

people shun the bins.

“It’s certainly not anybody’s favourite thing to do,” Howard said.

“I doubt that there’s people waking up and saying, ‘Today’s the day because I can’t wait to do it.’”

Council has not made filling green bins mandatory. But it may muscle more people into using them by reducing regular garbage collection.

For example, council could limit garbage bags allowed at the curb. This is expected to be considered for 2015. Local cities essentially don’t limit bags today.

Another approach is to reduce garbage pickup to once every two weeks, while still collecting green bins every week.

This is not expected to be considered until 2017, when a contract for garbage collection expires.

Guelph has mused about double-selling composting space not used by regional council, but has not pursued it.

Regional council has been told it can’t limit losses by selling off capacity it purchased but is not using.

In choosing to compost food waste in Guelph, council rejected a pay-as-you-go bid from Hamilton that would have been cheaper based on actual tonnages.