| After hours of debate, city council narrowly approved a curbside recycling program that will begin in 2009 and will cost up to $8 per household.
However, the recycling program won’t include organic and yard waste material and services won’t be provided to condos, apartments and trailer parks. The city will continue to operate its community recycling depots for those Calgarians not covered by the new curbside program. City administration has been directed to look at options to reduce the cost of curbside recycling for low-income Calgarians. It has also been asked to consider options to reduce the cost from the estimated $8 per household the program is projected to cost.
Seven aldermen voted against the proposal, arguing residents don’t want to pay $8 for a mandatory recycling program and that the new program will put existing private recycling companies out of business. They also expressed concern about low-income residents being unable to afford the new fee. The city has put out a request for proposals for companies to operate a new materials recycling facility and for companies to collect recyclables. City administration will now enter into final negotiations and award contracts. The Canadian Union of Public Employees representing garbage collectors is concerned that collection of recyclables could be awarded to the private sector instead of the public sector.
The approved curbside recycling program is "disappointing" and feels like "half a program," says Sierra Club spokesperson Brian Pincott. "It doesn’t include organics. It leaves out a large chunk of the city… and on top of that the whole user fee thing seems fairly wrong headed as well."
He questions why city council couldn’t have paid for its recycling program with property taxes rather than charging a fee-for-service thus negating affordability concerns. "It should be part of the tax base. It should be part of our public utilities. Public utilities are what cities do that are in the public good," he says.
Pincott says the city needs to start charging user fees for "the behavior we want to discourage" such as throwing out garbage rather than recycling. He adds that the city also has to introduce higher garbage tipping fees to businesses for garbage disposal.
Pincott says the fact that the curbside program still doesn’t include organics is a major problem because organic material produces methane, a greenhouse gas emission. "(Calgary) landfills are some of the worst greenhouse gas emitters in the province," he says. In the future, he adds, the city could face having to pay a carbon tax on the amount of organic material going into landfills. "We’re so fixated on sticker price it’s not funny. We don’t look at the long-term costs and we need to start doing that," he says.
Pincott also says most other cities that have created curbside recycling programs include organics and provide the service to all residents, not just to single-family homes.
Alderman Druh Farrell who first introduced a notice of motion on curbside recycling in 2001 says she’s "disappointed" the program won’t include compost and yard waste, but she told city council it was better than nothing. Farrell pointed out that Calgary is the last large city in Canada in introduce curbside recycling and the city currently only recycles about 20 per cent of its waste.
Administration has also been directed to study incentive options that would encourage people to increase their recycling. |
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