Has County wasted a year on waste issue?

By Kate Harries AWARE Simcoe October 1 2011

There are those who will say that Simcoe County Council has wasted a year in tackling its waste problems by dithering on changes to curbside pickup

I would disagee

It’s been a learning process for the new councillors. And what I hope they have learned is that Simcoe County’s administration is very slow to change course, and staff often pay no attention to what councillors say.

While councillors, from their first meeting in January, were calling for options to be added to the collection service – plastics, Styrofoam, diapers, pet waste – staff were focused elsewhere. 

-Staff were very keen to get the county’s collection service under one contract, instead of the current four collection areas. It’s a decision councillors refused to make in the spring and continue to balk at. “One-stop shopping” appeals to staff for ease of management, but Site 41 opponents who observed the county’s cosy relationship with Genivar and Miller Waste question “efficiencies” that do no take into account legal fees and untold staff time spent on secret projects. 

-Staff came up with the “pay-as-you-throw” plan, a favoured option as it is relatively simple to implement. This was approved in February, then discarded in the face of “push-back” by the public, as well as concerted opposition led by Bradford West Gwillimbury Mayor Doug White.

-Staff pushed for bi-weekly collection, also fairly straightforward from an administrative point of view. The plan was a good one, still providing for continued weekly pickup of organics and recyclables – but there was more push-back. A key reason is that a lot of the “smelly stuff” would still be left hanging around for two weeks and some councillors rightly pointed out that the diapers and pet waste problem needs to be tackled first, before bi-weekly collection is introduced. 

Adding extra products to the waste stream is complicated. But it has to be done before more systemic change is tackled. The public likes it, the politicians have been demanding it, but it will be tough for staff. That’s why there’s been no change at the curb, although environmental services director Rob McCullough promises that clam shells are soon to be allowed.

All of which explains the 23-8 vote against bi-weekly.pickup. Opponents (see recorded vote below) included many councillors one would expect to be in the forefront of tough and creative measures to solve the garbage problem. 

They also include one of those tasked with leading the county’s efforts on waste, the unpredictable Ramara Mayor Bill Duffy. Councillors voted to put Duffy in charge of the waste management committee. This has proved to be a major error – he has shown no leadership, and in fact his committee has dropped from view, not meeting since February.

Would things have been different had councillors heeded the pleas of some AWARE Simcoe supporters who urged that Midland Mayor Gord McKay, the chair of Zero Waste Simcoe and a key contributor as a citizen committee member to the county’s waste management strategy, be added to that committee?

Who knows. McKay has missed a couple of key meetings on the waste issue, including the one last Tuesday (he was on vacation). And councillors do not appear to pay much attention to the group’s suggestions, even though Zero Waste principles are enshrined in the waste management strategy. This is a pity.

The leaders county council has chosen to advance this file are Warden and Wasaga Beach Mayor Cal Patterson, who has yet to galvanize either councillors or Simcoe County residents on the issue, and Clearview Mayor Ken Ferguson, who chairs the corporate services committee where discussion of waste issues takes place. Ferguson has been unable to articulate any vision of where council should be going.

All is not lost if councillors learn that talking the talk at county council doesn’t lead to change at Simcoe County. They have to walk the walk, making their own decisions and ensuring they are implemented, informed by staff but not, as Springwater Mayor Linda Collins urged on Tuesday, “trusting” staff.  We don’t elect staff, we elect Collins and her colleagues to direct staff.

If that lesson is learned, this will not have been a wasted year. 

Recommendation No. CS-163-11 MOVED BY:Councillor Collins SECONDED BY:Warden Patterson: THAT staff be directed to implement a bi-weekly garbage collection program at the current volume and weight restrictions, consistently throughout the County as outlined in Option 5a of Item CS 11-140, subject to further refinements necessary in order to proceed with this option.

DEFEATED 23-8 (weighted 82-32)

Opposed: Barb Baguley (Innisfil 6), Mike Burkett (Severn 3), Basil Clarke (Ramara 3), Judith Cox (Severn 3), Dan Davidson (Innisfil 6), Terry Dowdall (Essa 3), Bill Duffy (Ramara 3), David Foster (Wasaga Beach 4), Ralph Hough (Oro-Medonte 4), Rob Keffer (Bradford-West Gwillimbury 4), George Lawrence (Tiny 4), Sandie Macdonald (Essa 3), Mike MacEachem (New Tecumseth 6), Patrick Marion (Penetanguishene 1), Gerry Marshall (Penetanguishene 2), Dan McLean (Springwater 3), Ray Millar (Tiny 5), Rick Milne (New Tecumseth 5), Bill Rawson (Tay 2), Mary Small Brett (Adjala-Tosorontio2),  Tom Walsh (Adjala-Tosorontio 2), Scott Warnock  (Tay 3), Doug White (Bradford-West Gwillimbury 5)

In favour  Sandra Cooper (Collingwood 5), Linda Collins (Springwater 4), Ken Ferguson (Clearview 3), Harry Hughes (Oro-Medonte 5), Stephan Kramp (Midland 3), Rick Lloyd (Collingwood 4), Cal Patterson (Wasaga Beach 5), Alicia Savage (Clearview 3)

Absent: Gord McKay (Midland 4)