North Bay City Council has authorized an amendment to the City of North Bay's waste management user fee by-law. Tuesday's unanimous vote by Council is the final step in the changes to the City's rules surrounding garbage collection, set to take effect Jan. 1, 2022.
The move solidifies an increase in the fee to dispose of waste — above and beyond the lowered two-receptacle limit — to $2 per bag, as opposed to the current $1. As of the new year, the current "free three-bag limit," will drop to two bags/receptacles. The industrial, commercial, and institutional (ICI) sectors would see their limits drop from 12 to 10 receptacles under the proposed model. Tags will continue to be available for purchase at the Customer Service Centre on the main floor of City Hall — at the new price of $2 each.
See related: Council backs changes to local waste collection
A public education campaign outlining the waste collection changes has been undertaken by the City.
Coun. Mac Bain, who has long advocated for an overhaul of the City's waste management system, is pleased by the moves.
"It's been a long time coming for us to get to today," Bain observed. "I would have liked to have seen something more aggressive — we'll get there, eventually."
With a nod to concerns from the public about the lowered waste limit, Bain noted his own multi-generational shared living space includes several adults and children and still only puts out two receptacles at the curb for collection each week. Bain said they put out "five or six blue boxes [every other week] but less than two receptacles," of waste.
"Hopefully, if we progress with this, we'll get to see the levy go down and the taxes come down for the cost of collecting permanently for all bins," he added. In 2025, the cost of recycling will begin to be borne by the producers of the materials, not the municipalities, possibly creating further savings.
According to the City of North Bay's definition, one standard receptacle can include several bags of garbage:
"Extra bags/receptacles can have a maximum weight of 15 kilograms, or 35 pounds and receptacles cannot be larger than 150 litres, or 33 gallons. The City will collect three extra garbage bags/receptacles [beyond the permitted two] per household as long as they have a bag tag."
Karin Pratte, the City's senior environment and facilities engineer, said previously in committee discussions the City of North Bay "allows the most waste at the curb of any other large northern Ontario community." More than Thunder Bay, Sault Ste. Marie, Sudbury and Timmins without any user fees. "We have the largest volume allowed at the curb — for free. Going down to two free bags we would be comparable."
During last December's service level change discussions, Pratte told members, "This is not only environmentally-friendly, it's fiscally-friendly...The intention here isn't that we would sell thousands and thousands worth of bag tags. The intention is to have people think differently about what they put into the waste stream."
Tuesday, Coun. Chris Mayne advised he had received some concerns about lowering the receptacle limit from families with children in diapers or households with members with medical issues that produce more waste.
"Families with unique and special situations...those exceptions are being given consideration," said Mayne. "We hope to have an application process posted to the City website in the next few weeks."
See also: Trash talk expected in tonight's committee meeting
A common concern surrounding the waste collection user fee discussion is the potential for a rise in illegal dumping to circumvent the cost of bag tags and Coun. Mark King has raised the issue in the past and Coun. Ed Valenti broached the subject, Tuesday.
"The concern is stuff gets dumped in back lots and bush areas." Valenti added he also has concerns "about boosting the fee. I don't know if the revenue justifies the situation."
There is a financial component to the service level change. The report cites increasing waste collection costs as the reason for the doubling of the tag price from one to two dollars and advises, "If half of the residential households put out one additional bag 4 times per year the additional revenue would be $75,284. There are an estimated 1,000 ICI customers that are currently entitled to put out 12 bags per week for garbage pickup. Their new free bag allotment would be 10 bags per week. If half the ICI customers put out 12 bags 4 times per year the additional revenue would be $16,000. Therefore, a total increased revenue of $91,284."
According to Pratte's report, any waste diversion strategy brought forward has an overarching goal of protecting the life of the municipally-owned Merrick Landfill, consistently cited by the City as one of its most valuable yet finite assets. These programs are designed to divert waste from the landfill into recycling programs, with the aim of maintaining or extending the useful life of the landfill.
Pratte noted then she would be happy if no tags were sold at all and recycling habits improved, as 30 to 40 per cent of the waste entering the landfill is from recyclable material. She added this program is intended for households putting out three receptacles and no recycling.
"This would not have a huge impact on your average user," said Pratte. "It would encourage users to recycle more."
From the report: "The increased annual cost to a household would be dependent on the number of waste receptacles put out each week. Currently, households put out approximately 1.5 receptacles per week. This means that most households would not require purchasing additional tags. There are, however, residents who will choose to put out more than 2 receptacles out of convenience."
