Castlegar city council has voted to let homeowners buy a second garbage cart when the curbside composting program rolls out in August.
That’s despite the concerns of some councillors that the move doesn’t align with the city’s zero waste goals or Bear Smart status.
City staff presented three options to council this week. Under the first, each household would be issued a 120-litre cart for garbage and redeploy its existing 240-litre cart for compost. However, the city would not provide extra carts for those wishing them.
The second option, which council ultimately adopted by a 4-2 vote, allows residents to buy a second cart at a one-time upfront cost of $315 plus an ongoing $120 annual fee.
The third option, which no one spoke in favour of, would have let citizens trade in their 120-litre carts for 240-litre ones for a one-time cost of $115 and $120 annual fee. Staff suggested this would require buying another 300 carts at a cost of $65,000.
Staff recommended the first option, noting the current official community plan strives for zero waste and diverting organic waste from the landfill will play a big role in achieving that goal. They also felt it was the best option for reducing wildlife conflicts involving garbage.
However, in supporting the second option, mayor Maria McFaddin said she is concerned about larger families who are already struggling with bi-weekly garbage pick-up and also for families with diapers that can’t go into the organic bin.
“I don’t like making decisions that make those struggling further struggle,” she said.
Councillor Brian Bogle also spoke in favour of the second option, noting the extra cost would be covered by residents and “as their circumstances change, they make opt out of two-cart pick-up.”
Councillors Darcy Bell and Sandy Bojechko spoke in favour of the second option for similar reasons.
However, councillor Sue Heaton-Sherstobitoff preferred the first option of no extra carts. She said organics pick-up has been shown to substantially reduce household garbage across Canada.
She doubted the city would meet its commitments to reduce its environmental impacts unless it stuck to the minimum number of containers and worried about the regional landfill’s life expectancy.
“Change is hard but even smaller communities than ours offered a second bin and got rid of it because their garbage was so much less with organic [pick-up],” she said.
Councillor Cherryl MacLeod, who agreed with Heaton-Sherstobitoff, said taking diapers directly to the landfill would be cheaper than paying a one-time fee for an extra cart. She also worried the city’s Bear Smart status could be jeopardized by the extra containers.
City manager Chris Barlow clarified the cost of a second bin will be borne by the property owner, so tenants will have to make arrangements with their landlords if they want one.
The carts are expected to start being delivered around the end of July.
