Council approves three-year recycling contract to GFL Environmental Inc., plans to investigate ways to decrease garbage and increase recycling rates

 

During the Monday, October 22 regular meeting of council, administration provided council with the results from a Request for Proposals for curbside collection of residential recycling materials. The previous contract expired in July. Though administration said there were other bids for the contract, they ultimately received one proposal from GFL Environmental Inc. (GFL)

GFL handles both the recyclables and solid waste for the area and right now both contracts are separate entities. Administration provided a recommendation to council to put a contract in place that would expire at the same time as the current solid waste collection agreement. Doing so would allow administration to align the dates for tendering of both service contracts. The solid waste contract is in place until June 30, 2021.

Putting both contracts together would also allow for better competition and pricing. Administration and council were both happy to award the contract to GFL being that it is a local company who is familiar with the routes in place and the overall operation of the waste operations in Whitecourt. During discussion, a couple of members of council expressed interest in finding ways to decrease garbage and increase recycling. Councillor Schlosser asked if a smaller residential bin was a possibility. Administration said that having both contracts renew at the same time in three years would give them time to research the best practices and explore options such as potentially having smaller bins for garbage disposal.

“For council, looking at those two contracts expiring simultaneously we will be looking in the next couple of years for how we can reduce the amount of garbage going out to the landfill and how we can increase recycling opportunities. Also, how we can educate the public to get the buy in? We talked today about how disappointing it is on recycling day to drive down any street and you have very few homeowners participating and there really is no reason for that. There are always things within your house that can be recycled and should be recycled,” explained Mayor Chichak.

She said when garbage pickup was limited to two bags per household recycling was much higher and that when residents were provided with the big bin, recycling diminished. “When we went to the automated collection method with our large bins, our diversion rate to the landfill decreased which meant that more people were putting things in their bin as opposed to recycling them or repurposing them. It’s disappointing when we look at the cost of running that landfill and the cost to build cells and reclaim them are in the millions of dollars and I don’t think our residents and our businesses really appreciate and understand that.”

Council approved the GFL contract to coincide with the current garbage collection contract. Residents will see a very minimal increase of 92 cents per month. Mayor Chichak said providing education for residents will be important as they review different options for boosting recycling locally. “Knowing what we do accept for recycling and what we don’t accept is important. I would really like the public to become more informed and more educated and really make a conscious effort in diverting this material out of our landfill because in the end, as a resident, you will end up paying for it one way or another.”

Whitecourt’s diversion rate is around 15 per cent. “When you talk to other communities and their diversion rates are 45 or 50 per cent it obviously shows we’re not hitting the mark and getting things right. I would like us to recycle as much as we can.”

Mayor Chichak said she also supports going to smaller bins for solid waste collection but that she wouldn’t want bins for recycling because she wouldn’t want to limit how much can be recycled. Another option that will be discussed more in depth is composting. “That’s probably one of the options that an Ad Hoc Committee would discuss in the upcoming years if this is something we want to focus our efforts on. We need to do something because we can’t continue in the manner that we are going