A crowd of more than 100 told Town officials to trash plans to make curbside-recycling mandatory for single-family homes in Okotoks.
Town administration faced heated questions and argument against the program during the first of two public information sessions on Aug. 25 for the Town’s new recycling and organics program, set to roll out Oct. 1. The second session will be held Sept. 6 at council chambers in the Okotoks municipal building starting at 7 p.m.
The waste management bylaw passed first reading on Aug. 22 with only Coun. Carrie Fischer voting against, and will return for second and third reading on Sept. 12.
Okotoks resident David Clark said the decision to make the program universal should have been taken to plebiscite rather than being mandated by Town administration.
“When was the decision made to make it mandatory, and when did you consult the public about the mandatory part of this?” said Clark.
He also wanted to know why organic and recycling carts had already been purchased prior to having a bylaw passed.
“The Town has already gone ahead and done this regardless of what council has said,” Clark said. “Who actually is in charge of policy here, is it council, or is it administration?”
His comments were met with rounds of applause from attendees who shared his concern with the program.
Many were concerned about the cost of the changes, with several different numbers being brought up during the meeting, even as high as an additional $250 per year.
However, Nancy Weigel, corporate and strategic services director assured residents the increased cost will amount to $7.25 per month, or $87 per year.
“The single waste fee is $20.50 for all three services,” said Weigel. “The individuals, the 67 per cent right now who have a black cart and a blue cart, will see no change to their bill.
“I just want everybody to understand it’s not a couple of hundred dollars per year.”
Paul Lyons, waste services manager explained the cost of the program is based on the tonnes diverted from the landfill. He said the numbers can be reviewed next year and, depending on the amount of garbage diverted from the landfill, residents could potentially see a change in rates for 2018.
“Administration will also be looking at options regarding how often we pick up the cart, which will also look at providing an incentive for residents,” said Lyons. “No doubt, if the truck isn’t picking up your waste every week, there will be credit, which all the residents will be able to see.”
A pay-as-you-throw concept is still in development stages and won’t be ready to roll out for months, he said.
Okotkos resident Chris Mills said as it stands now the universal recycling program will penalize the people who already try to reduce and reuse, reducing even their amount of recyclables.
“If you really want to get people to reduce and reuse, you should be rewarding them, not penalizing them, to make them pay for something they don’t really need,” said Mills.
Lyons said the Town didn’t intend for the program to punish residents.
“We didn’t see it as penalizing,” said Lyons, amid a round of boos and laughter. “We’re providing an enhanced service that will increase diversion.”
Michael Gund said he regularly takes items to the recycling depot, but said the program shouldn’t be rolled out until the pay-per-use aspect is in place.
“If you have seniors and they only have a little bit and they put their garbage out once a month, I think we need to figure that out,” said Gund.
He recommended the Town establish an environmental advisory board along with the program to provide residents the opportunity to be involved in some decision-making with regards to waste management.
He said the board would give the public a chance to provide input and avoid a lot of resentment, he said.
“One of the things that’s happened is that there’s a lot of upset and anger, and it’s about how people feel they have not been consulted,” said Gund. “I think that’s why people are here, to consult, or to give you their opinion.”
Coun. Tanya Thorn, who attended with coun. Ed Sands, said she wasn’t surprised by the comments heard. Council has been receiving similar feedback for a few weeks now, she said.
“A lot of these comments continue to be reiterated,” said Thorn. “I still sit at the state of, we need to get a program implemented so that we can determine any exceptions we’re going to make to that program.”
She said the program is about more than just recycling, it’s about implementing an organics program and prolonging use of the landfill.
The waste management plan approved last fall referred to universal recycling and having the entire community using the blue and green carts, said Thorn. The program is becoming part of waste services, she said.
“Waste service, or garbage pickup, has never been optional,” said Thorn. “We’re not allowing it to be optional. It’s all part of waste, it’s a waste pipeline.
“Some of it is valuable and some of it isn’t, but it’s still all waste.”
