Castlegar’s new curbside composting program won’t come free.
Municipal services manager Chris Hallam told council the move next month to curbside organics pick-up, combined with increased costs in a new five-year service agreement with Waste Management for garbage and recycling collection, will see a doubling of rates.
Households will each pay $319.88 per year, up from the present $161.10, an increase of $158.78. It breaks down this way:
- The new weekly compost and yard waste pick-up will cost $121.11.
- Bi-weekly garbage pick-up will go from $123.32 to $138.11, an increase of $14.79.
- Bi-weekly recycling will go from zero to $27.48. While the city’s rebates from RecycleBC have covered the cost until now, they’re not expected to fully cover collection rates in the new contract.
- Keeping the yard waste facility at the recreation complex open will cost $33.18, which is actually a decrease of $4.60 from $37.78, due to some operational changes. The city plans to review the situation in a year.
The new rates take effect Sept. 1 and will show up on October utility bills.
Waste Management has held the contract to collect Castlegar’s garbage and recycling since 2015. The spike in rates was signalled in March when the city signed an interim agreement that saw the monthly cost increase from nearly $16,000 per month to almost $28,000.
Councillors didn’t comment specifically on the new rates when they were presented last week, but did have another short debate over cart sizes.
New 120-litre garbage carts are being delivered to households ahead of the new collection system, which begins Aug. 21.
Mayor Maria McFaddin said she still feels council is making a mistake using the smaller carts for garbage and the existing 240-litre carts for composting.
“With the cost increase I have a really hard time telling residents they have to somehow fit 60 per cent of their waste into half the space,” she said.
But councillor Brian Bogle countered that Castlegar is “way, way behind the curve” and other communities have made the adjustment.
“This is not a made-in-Castlegar solution. We are copycatting,” he said.
People who still feel they can’t get all their garbage into a single cart will be able to buy a second one, but they will also have to pay for the added cost of pick-up.
Hallam urged people not to put garbage in the bigger carts, or compost in the smaller ones, as it will contaminate the waste streams.
“We would not appreciate that at all,” he said, adding crews won’t have time to get out of the truck and check each cart before picking it up.
“It will affect our compliance, which will likely affect the fees we pay at the landfill, so it would be very detrimental to the program.”
