Garbage pickup once every two weeks in Barrie?

By BOB BRUTON Barrie Examiner April 17 2012
Barrie residents could be putting their garbage out once every two weeks, and paying separately for the privilege, under a proposed sustainable waste management strategy. City councillors listened to a staff presentation Monday night, expressing concerns and asking a number of questions.
 Coun. Bonnie Ainsworth questioned cutting back trash pickup to two bags once every two weeks, as opposed to the current practice of one bag a week.
 “I see it as a recipe for disaster,” she said, noting it’s impractical for some of her east-end constituents. “I don’t know how the (city) allowed row housing with no place to put their garbage but at the front door.”
 Coun. Peter Silveira asked about the impact of longer pickup intervals for large families.
 “How will it work with three or four or five kids? They are already struggling with one bag,” he said. “Barrie is a very young community. It’s not going to be fair for these families.”
 Michael Cant of Golder Associates, who helped make the presentation, said municipalities such as Durham, Orangeville, Pickering and Whitby only collect garbage once every two weeks.
 The proposed strategy also includes a flat fee per household, so that the property tax base – which now funds 75% of waste management costs – is not used so prominently.
 But Mayor Jeff Lehman is yet to be sold on why this works.
 “I’m not sure that’s any better than what we have today,” he said. “The flat fee doesn’t reflect the amount of garbage you use. If this is on the utility model, you pay for what you use.”
 The mayor was referring to the city’s water/sewer rate, which is moving toward charging users the full cost of this service.
 “How do we know if the (flat fees) program can work for the families of today?” asked Coun. Lynn Strachan, noting the demographics, the age of those in households, matter.
 Coun. Doug Shipley had concerns about people storing junk in their back and side yards, and that Barrie doesn’t have large-item pickup anymore. He said the city needs to promote the goods exchange, which this year is June 2.
 The waste management strategy priorities include extending Sandy Hollow landfill’s capacity, and its lifespan. Right now that’s until 2014. It will cost $1.4 million to close, and $800,000 annually to maintain afterwards.
 When Sandy Hollow does close, it will cost the city to transfer, haul and dispose of waste to another site. There will also be no more landfill tipping fees, which currently provide $750,000 a year in revenues.
 “When we are out of landfill, we will have costs that we don’t have at the moment,” said John Thompson, the city’s environmental services director.
 The province had a target of 60% residential waste diverted by 2008, but it hasn’t been met. Today it stands at 44%.
 Barrie’s current waste diversion rate is 45.4%, and the proposed strategy recommends 50% by 2016, 54% by 2021, 57% by 2016 and 60% by 2031.
 “We do have guiding documents to tell us what we should achieve,” Cant said.
 Aside from biweekly collection (recyclables and green bins would still be collected weekly), methods to achieve this goal include better promotion and education, a green bin program for multi-residential units and putting more pressure on those who produce packaging that ends up in landfills.
 The strategy suggests funding for waste management include taking away reliance on the property tax base to pay for the program, similar to the water/sewer fees. It would include allocating garbage pickup services to single family or multi family homes on a cost-recovery basis.
 “We want to maximize our diversion,” Thompson said. “I’m hoping we will be able to tell you (council) we can use it (the landfill) after 2024.”
Councillors were told they will have a staff report by June on the proposed waste management strategy.