Council Approves Weekly Garbage Collection For October

It may not be what many people wanted but in the area of increased garbage collection there was a partial victory as Council decided to extend weekly pickup into October.

And of course because residential trash collection is a fee for service utility there is going to be an increase in your monthly garbage fee to pay for it. The 38 cents to fund weekly service to include October will see the cost of trash collection rise to $9.99 per month.

“This is the the thing we will get the most complaints about (from citizens) my garbage is not being picked up enough,” Councillor Doug Blanc said.

At present the City provides residential weekly garbage collection from the start of June until the end of September. The collection is a self-sustaining utility that is a fee for service utility that was for many years paid for by property taxes.

Residents have recently been requesting the City extend the months there is weekly collection. The City instituted bi-weekly collection in order to reduce the amount of trash heading to the landfill as well as encourage more people utilizing recycling and diverting trash away from the landfill.

“I didn’t hear a lot of complaints about May but I did about October,” Councillor Blanc said.

Public works manager Darren Stephanson said the change in lifestyle was placing more pressure on the landfill as people were throwing away more things in what is a throwaway society.

“Really this is driven by consumer use…the rise of fast fashion has contributed what has gone into our waste bins,” Stephanson said.

He went on to further explain residential waste collection is done on a cost recovery basis and does not earn the Solid Waste Utility a profit.

Councillor Heather Eby said garbage is something that makes a difference in people’s everyday lives and what makes sense is the convenience to dispose and get rid of it.

Councillor Eby said she could see residents agreeing with the 38 cent per month fee increase to see weekly garbage collection in October.

Council discussed the fact there needs to be more people using recycling and not simply throwing everything into the garbage.

The issue of having an information campaign to have more people better use recycling was something that was seen as essential and may help with more people actively recycling.

Councillor Jamey Logan said he had personally heard many people wanting to have weekly pickup extended in the Fall of the year.

Council voted 6 - 1 with Councillor Kim Robinson opposed in favour of having weekly collection in October starting in 2022.