Aurora discusses possible changes to garbage collection contract
YorkRegion.com
Nov. 5, 2015
Teresa Latchford
A new waste collection contract could kick Aurora’s three-garbage-bag limit to the curb.
Aurora currently shares a waste collection contract with York Region’s northern six municipalities including East Gwillimbury, Georgina, Newmarket, Whitchurch Stouffville and King and since the program’s inception, $1 million per year has been saved over previous contract costs. The current agreement is set to expire in 2017 and town staff is already preparing the new contract with the goal of having the documents ready before the end of the year, according to a report presented by infrastructure and environmental services director Ilmar Simanovskis.
The N6 communities hope to select a provider by the spring of 2016.
Further cost savings could be found by making all of the waste collection rules and regulations the same across the municipalities, with the most significant being bag limits and bag tags.
“In reading this (report) it sounds like the intent is to reduce the bag limit to two and implement a bag tag program where people would pay for extra bags (of garbage). Is this correct?” Councillor Michael Thompson asked.
Simanovskis explained aligning the rules as well as the bag limits would improve efficiencies and would result in savings.
However, the final decision on the matter would still be that of council and he intends to write a report to begin the discussion.
“With the different bag limits across the municipalities, this isn’t something that will happen quickly,” he said. “It could happen in one year, two years or it may not even happen at all.”
The current bylaw hasn’t changed; this is just the beginning phases of a conversation. Any opportunity to improve the savings or contract would be presented to council in a future report.
Thompson reminded council of the clear garbage bag initiative that saw residents lined up to speak at the podium in council chambers and expressed the need to ensure the community is informed and engaged during any decision-making process, especially if it will mean a significant change.
“It’s not my decision, it’s just an opportunity to bring this forward to see if the community is in support of going this direction,” Simanovskis said. “I’m expecting this to be a 12-to-18-month process.”
Councillor Paul Pirri pointed out the town is becoming more urbanized and other municipalities have found significant savings by switching to collection trucks with arms to pick up large bins rather than using the traditional by-hand collection method.
Simanovskis confirmed Newmarket and Aurora would benefit from the switch, but the others would not. As a collective, less would be saved if the N6 had two different collection methods, therefore, the preference is to stick with the current blue box program.
“With all do respect to the N6, if there is an opportunity for us to adopt a cheaper and more effective way to collect garbage, I’m prepared to ditch the N6 to ensure our residents are taken care of,” Pirri said.
According to the report, further efficiencies could also be realized through the operation of a joint call centre.
SIDEBAR
Current N6 residential garbage bag limits every other week and bag tag fees:
Aurora - 3 bags and no bag tag program
East Gwillimbury - 2 bags and no bag tag program
Georgina - 1 bag, $1 tags resulting in $160,000 revenue in 2015
King - 2 bags, $1 tags resulting in $20,000 revenue in 2015
Newmarket - 3 bags, $2.40 tags with $35,000 revenue collected in 2015
Whitchurch-Stouffville - 3 bags, $2 tags with $11,600 in revenue collected in 2015
