Stouffville garbage bag limit could be reduced

Yorkregion.com
Nov. 13, 2015
By Sandra Bolan

The number of garbage bags you can put out on the curb may go from three to two.

Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville staff is recommending council make the change. The fee for additional bags is not anticipated to change. It is $2.

Town council is expected to deal with the matter during Tuesday’s council meeting, which begins at 7 p.m. It is open to the public.

Staff is also suggesting bulk items, such as furniture and metal appliances, get a fee of $10 to $12 each, according to the report.

The changes are being recommended as York Region’s Northern Six (N6) municipalities - Aurora, East Gwillimbury, Georgina, King, Newmarket, Whitchurch-Stouffville - work on a new joint waste collection service contract.

The current contract, with GFL (Green for Life), expires in 2017.

Another potential change could be in how residents get their blue and green bins.

Two blue and one green bin are currently available to new residents from the customer service department in the municipal offices for free. Replacement bins are also available for purchase in the same location.

Staff recommends whomever the contract goes to, that they provide the new and replacement bins for all N6 municipalities.

A central customer service centre will also be created with the new contract.

Back in February, council asked town staff to report back on the possibility of having Whitchurch-Stouffville’s own waste collection contract, separate from the N6. Staff does not recommend going solo.

Whitchurch-Stouffville represents 16 per cent of waste collected within the N6. “Therefore, it is expected that for a smaller contract - Town of Whitchurch-Stouffville tendering alone - the future pricing may be less attractive than that achieved through the N6 joint procurement,” the report stated.

The contract would be more than $1.35 million a year based on about 13,500 tonnes of waste collected in 2014, according to the report.