'We need to be exploring some other options on how to reduce waste': Orillia city council rolls back decision to eliminate free garbage tags

This rolls back the city's plan to remove the tags completely and introduce a full-pay system known as “pay-as-you-throw” by next year

Simcoe.com
April 18, 2023
Eli Ridder

Residents will continue to receive garbage tags indefinitely after council on Tuesday (April 17) rolled back a decision to transition Orillia's trash pick up to a full pay-per-use approach by 2024.

Every year, Orillia gives property owners a certain amount garbage tags -- 10 starting June 2023 -- and provides collection for 26 weeks. It's a system designed to encourage residents to cut back on their amount of garbage.

The city approved a plan earlier this year to remove the tags completely and introduce a full-pay system known as “pay-as-you-throw” that would come into effect June 2024. That approach would have seen residents pay for each tag they used.

But a motion to reconsider the pay-as-you-throw system proposed by Ward 2 Coun. Luke Leatherdale received support from every councillor.

Ward 3 Coun. Jeff Czetwerzuk voted against removing the tags earlier this year and stuck with that decision again this time.

"The reason is I just don't know if we're there yet, I think we need to be exploring some other options on how to reduce waste," Czetwerzuk said.

"There's a lot of unknown things like how to get rid of pet waste," he added.

Czetwerzuk didn't close the door completely on supporting an eventual move towards a full pay system when the city finds solutions to some of the issues that can come from such a policy.

"Once we find those solutions, we can move towards this kind of system."

Coun. Janet-Lynne Durnford reconsidered her stance, praising the work residents have already done to reduce the amount of trash they put out to the curb.

"Orillians have done a really great job in reducing the waste that they are generating," Coun. Durnford said.

"In light of skyrocketing inflation, this is something that we can do to address the concerns of our constituents."

'PLEASE HAVE SOME THOUGHT FOR YOUR RESIDENTS'

“The garbage tag program is structured in that those who set out more garbage pay a higher cost to collect and dispose of that garbage,” the city’s manager of environmental services Greg Preston previously said of a fully paid system.

“If one cuts back on what they put out, they realize the savings directly.”

But some residents did not agree with retiring the free tag program.

In a letter, Irene Malloch asked council to consider the needs of residents amid rising costs.

“Please have some thought for your residents -- families in particular who are struggling in the current economic situation,” Malloch wrote.

When the city’s garbage tag system was introduced back in 1997, residents received 52 tags a year. In 2000, it dropped to 40 tags, and a decade later, it went to 30.

“In 2021, the city spent more than $1.11 million on garbage collection and disposal,” Preston said.

In that same year, around $192,000 was received from the sale of extra garbage tags and another $434,000 came in from tipping fees from garbage dropped off directly at the waste diversion site for landfilling.

“This left a shortfall of approximately $485,000 in net costs that was then covered by the property taxpayer.”

It's been a year since the city introduced a clear bags program as a way to further entice residents to be conscious about what they throw in the trash.

The pay-as-you-throw system was estimated to increase the city's waste diversion rate by four to five per cent or by 600 tonnes, according to staff.