Curbside Recycling Is Likely

With just a month left in their term, Moose Jaw City Council has approved the first step in bringing curbside recycling to our homes.  Council has approved, in principle, the establishment of a program for Moose Jaw while recognizing a lot more work needs to be done before blue bins start to roll out.

The city has been considering the move to curbside recycling for years as the province turns up the pressure.  It's expected that a provincial program will be unveiled in 2013 that will require cities to offer an increased recycling program and there could be some funding provided.

A preliminary report was presented to councillors Monday night that outlined some basic assumptions, including what it might cost if the city was to run the program itself.  The basic idea would be to utilize a single stream approach to recycling, where each home is given a bin and you can just toss in any material that is on a list of approved recyclables.  The bins would then be taken to a sorting centre and the materials would be separated and then shipped to processors.

"The capital costs for purchasing vehicles, an additional three trucks and other equipment and the bins was something like $2 million," explained Councillor Don Mitchell, who sits on the Environment Advisory Committee.  "The monthly cost estimate is something like $9 a month (per home)."

Or, the city could hire a private company to do the work on behalf of the city and then pay them for the service.  Crown Shred out of Regina is already picking up recyclables from Moose Jaw every week and has expressed some interest.  Councillor Mitchell stressed that no decision has been made when it comes to what approach the city is going to take, simply that councillors support moving ahead with curbside recycling.  This allows the committee to further explore their options and potential costs.

"There's different levels in which private contractors are involved.  They could potentially be the whole system but then there's the question of who operates a separation depot and who transports the recyclables to market and most of that is being done by the private sector."

Public meetings are expected to be held this winter in the hopes of nailing down how much public support for each option there is.  So far no dates have been announced but Mitchell is hoping to have something organized for November so the results can be ready in time for budget deliberations in 2013.

According to the report presented Monday night, the end goal is to have bins out to single family dwellings sometime in 2013, run the program for a year or so to work out any kinks and then expand it to include all homes and multi-family units.

Prince Albert currently charges residents $14 per month for garbage and curbside recycling, working on a bi-weekly schedule.  In Regina, councillors are working on a new program for residents as we speak and the cost estimate is 25 cents a day or about $7.60 a month.  Up in Saskatoon, it's estimated that curbside recycling costs a household $4.33 a month.

Right now in Moose Jaw, there are two options for recycling.  You separate the items yourself and then take them to one of the two recycling depots.  The other option is to hire Crown Shred out of Regina to pick up the recyclables from your home at a cost of about $12 a month.  Nearly 800 people currently take part in the Crown Shred program in Moose Jaw.

Chris Rasmussen discusses the report with Councillor Mitchell

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