New trash plan gets go-ahead from Edmonton councillors

Edmontoncouncillors have given their initial blessing to a new 25-year waste management strategy that aims to keep 90 per cent of residential garbage out of the landfill.

Council's utility committee agreed at a meeting Thursday to move forward with the plan, presented by the city operations branch.

It includes a major switch for residents to a four-stream bin system that will separateorganics, recyclables, residual waste and yard waste starting next summer.

It will befully implemented by spring 2021 for single-family homes if approved.

The transition to a bin system is slated to cost$52 million, already earmarked in the city's 2019-22 capital budget.

Coun. Michael Walters said the phased-in approach should be more realistic than the previous system.

"I do not want this strategy to be chapter two of the same fairy tale that we were telling citizens before when we only achieve 38 per cent diversion," he told media Thursday. "So we have to make sure we have the ability to deliver."

The new plan comes a year and a half after an audit revealed Edmonton's once world-class waste management system was faltering, fast.

After the four-stream bin system is implemented for single-family homes, it will be introduced tomulti-unit buildings, commercial and industrial buildingsin 2022.

• Garbage audit shows Edmonton falls short of standards
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The plan also includesrestricting single-use plastics by January 2021.

Council and administration will determine later which plastics straws, plastic bags, utensils, and other packagingwould be restricted and what institutions, such as hospitals, would be exempt.

Mayor Don Iveson said he's confident residents are willing to change their sorting habits.

"Edmontonians still have a high level of ambition around the environment and around waste management specifically."

Private participation

Currently, privately contracted companies pick up about half the city's waste.

Several people from the business and waste collection industry showed up at the utility committee to advocate for even more corporate involvement inwaste collection and processing.

Chris LaBossiere, owner of Local Waste Services, said the city should consider contracting out more of the work.

"This is a 30-year train wreck that's been going on," he said of the city's once-lauded waste management system.

LaBossiere noted the industry is competitive with 200 different types of haulers on the market. He added that30 commercial haulers could do a more efficient job than the city.

Walters was all ears to more private contracting.

"I've always been open to way more engagement by the private sector in waste management," Walters said. "Our environmental goals, as they are, are important to me and how we deliver on those goals is equally important."

He mentioned San Francisco's efficientwaste diversion system, whichfunctions completely throughthe private sector.

Compost conundrum

The city closed its compost facility this spring after engineers shut it down duringwinter 2017, citing safety risks with snow on the structurally compromised roof.

Some of the organics from thepilot project with 8,000 homes that started in April were sent to the new anaerobic digestion facility,which the city is still testing after several years of delays.

• All food waste diverted to landfill after structural problems found at compost site
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Mike Labrecque, branch manager of waste services, said in the interim, organics from the pilot are now being sent to the waste management centre and put in a windrow called a gore pad, under a tarp.

He said they're finalizing a commercial arrangement with a third-party processor this fall to deal with the organics.

The new strategy calls for a new compost facility by 2025.

LaBossiere said he's concerned the city will build another failed facility.

"I think our fear here is they're going to make more decisions to invest more taxpayer dollars on facilities that may or may not work. "

He noted that residential composting solutions are available around the world for "fractions of the cost."

Ivesonsaid the city should belooking to outside jurisdictions to collaborate.

"[There are] opportunities to work with our neighbours on managing our waste as a metro region more efficiently and effectively than as 13 individual municipalities."

As part of the new strategy, the city is also stepping away from collecting garbage atindustrial, commercial and institutional facilities.

Labrecque said it will take a couple of years to let those contracts expire and make the facilities aware that they're responsible for arranging garbage pickup.

The waste management strategy will be before council for final approval in two weeks.

@natashariebe