City bureaucrats recommend tag-a-bag program for black bins

If your trash is overflowing, your wallet won’t be.

City bureaucrats are recommending council adopt a tag-a-bag program for black cart trash, which would see any bags that can’t fit in the bins cost $3 apiece.

In an analysis to be presented at a city committee Wednesday, they are also advising council to ditch a proposal for variable bin sizes, warning against millions in upfront capital costs and the potential for taxpayers to purchase bins smaller than required to avoid paying higher monthly costs.

This is city administration’s second kick at the garbage can on a revamped black cart program, as council’s utilities committee rejected a plan last June that included tag-a-bag and a choice of bin sizes. While it gave consumers a choice in bin size, it also led to concerns about increased contamination between bins, green, blue and black and associated costs to the city. The proposal was sent back to city staff for a detailed financial review.

Coun. Shane Keating has mixed feelings about the new proposal.

“They’re talking about it as a corporation, rather than a service,” said Keating.

He believes residents should have more options, especially those who have vastly reduced waste. If the service were privatized, there would be the ability for people to choose the best, and most affordable option for their garbage needs, Keating suggested.

In the latest proposal, it makes no difference for homeowners who either underuse or fill the space in their black bin, he said. “I think that’s the part we’re missing,” added Keating.

Currently, all households pay the same monthly black cart program charge regardless of the amount of waste they produce. According to the city report, only about four per cent of households set out excess garbage, the cost of which is paid by all households with black cart collection.

If the city were to introduce variable bin sizes, it would cost about $11 million to $13.5 million in the first year and $1.5 million to $2.5 million in annual costs for subsequent years, bureaucrats said. The analysis by city administration also indicated new cart sizes would result in increased program costs including cart purchase, storage and delivery costs, and billing system changes.

The report found it will cost approximately $300,000 in the first year and $200,000 annually to introduce the tag-a-bag program, which includes costs associated with customer education and communication, printing tags or stickers and managing a distribution network. It will also put a small amount of money back in the pockets of homeowners, as monthly black cart charges are likely to be reduced by 10 cents.

“I’m supportive of that basic idea,” said Coun. Gian-Carlo Carra. “I think at some point we’re going to want to move to a position where you’re basically paying for what you dispose but we’re not there yet, and this seems like a thoughtful step in the right direction, all designed around reducing the amount of waste we’re putting out.”

Carra said if homeowners are separating their waste properly, then it’s unlikely they will use the tag-a-bag program. Eventually, he hopes the city moves towards a ‘pay-per-dump’ system.

City staff said implementing the tag-a-bag program would improve fairness in relation to the black cart program and would likely result in greater collection efficiency because households might think twice before putting out excess garbage because of associated costs.

After going before the utilities committee, administration’s black cart proposal would need full council approval to go into effect.