WELLINGTON COUNTY – While county councillors agree a diversion model is the best option to filter local garbage, they're less sure implementing a minimum waste fee to reduce facility usage is worth charging some residents twice.
Despite county councillors unanimously following staff recommendations to transition the county's waste facilities to a diversion care model during a meeting Tuesday afternoon, members of the Solid Waste Services Committee said they needed more information about the feasibility of implementing a minimum waste fee after they were unable to reach a consensus about whether to charge everyone equally.
In support of the diversion model, which will target landfill materials not currently separated from the waste stream, staff applied and received approval to amend the Environmental Compliance Approval (ECA) for every operational waste facility in the county, to accept new materials for diversion, including shingles, drywall and mattresses.
According to a staff report, implementing a minimum waste fee at all waste facilities means a greater ability to manage and divert more materials from landfills and flexibility in meeting future challenges while reducing redundancies in services between the waste facilities and curbside collection.
A minimum waste fee is typically between $5 to $10.
However, staff recommended not charging yellow bag users because while curbside collection service is available throughout the county in urban and rural areas, the report said "a significant number" of residential customers still use the transfer stations for their garbage and recycling needs.
"Originally we wanted the minimum waste fee to apply to everyone, both yellow bags and black bags, and we backed off of that knowing that...there was concern about people being charged twice," said the manager of solid waste services Das Soligo during the meeting.
But Warden Andy Lennox and committee chair county coun. Steve O'Neill said the county shouldn't bother with the fee if they want to disincentivize people who use transfer stations for convenience when they could use curbside.
Lennox also said he needed more information about the diversion model's impact on the Elora and Rothsay Transfer Stations before he'd feel comfortable approving capital investments.
"We're paying for curbside collection, taxpayers are paying for curbside collection, people who aren't using it are wasting staff time, they're creating longer ques at the transfer stations and I would not be supportive of a minimum waste fee that doesn't treat everybody the same," said Lennox during the meeting.
Staff will report back with more information on the potential for a minimum waste fee and the estimated cost and customer behaviours of a diversion centre model to evaluate the waste facility's current number and location at a future meeting.
If approved, both transfer stations are anticipated to be tendered together with a possible tender set for May and project construction expected in Summer 2024.
Isabel Buckmaster is the Local Journalism Initiative reporter for GuelphToday. LJI is a federally-funded program.
