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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOES 013-02 008 CitJ¡ o~ REPORT TO COUNCIL FROM: Richard W. Holbom, P.Eng. Division Head, Municipal Property & Engineering DATE: March 14, 2002 .... REPORT NUMBER: OES 013-02 SUBJECT: Report on the Region of Durham's proposal to pass a by-law assuming all Solid Waste Management responsibilities within the Region RECOMMENDATION: 1. That Report OES 013-02 regarding solid waste management responsibilities be received; and . 2. That the Region of Durham be advised that the City of Pickering will be a "non- participating" municipality in the Region's acceptance of all waste management powers; and 3. That in accordance with Section 150 (2) of the Regional Municipalities Act, the City of Pickering requests to be exempt from the Region of Durham's proposed by-law transferring all waste management powers to the Region; and 4. That staff continue to work cooperatively with the Staff of the Region and the other area municipalities on developing new waste diversion initiatives and improved collection and processing procedures; and - 5. That a copy of this report and the applicable Council resolution be forwarded to the Region of Durham for infonnation. ORIGIN: Correspondence fÌ"om the Region of Durham dated March 8, 2002, requesting that the area municipalities detennine whether they wish to be a "participating" or "non-participating" municipality in the Region's acceptance of all waste management powers. AUTHORITY: Regional Municipalities Act, Part X, section 150 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS: - An exemption fÌ"om the Region's proposed by-law to adopt all waste management responsibilities will result in no change to the City's annual current budget. The decision to become a "participating" municipality, however, will result in the direct transfer of the City's solid waste budget for collection to the Region Solid Waste Tax Levy. In 2002, the costs in budget account 2430 are estimated to be approximately $1,400,000. Date: March 14,2002 Report to Council DES 013-02 Subject: OOB Durham Region's proposal to assume all Solid Waste responsibilities Page 2 EXECUTNE SUMMARY: Regional Report #2002-J-1O, outlines the process that the Region has followed to develop and recommend an integrated one-tier solid waste collection system for the Municipality of Clarington and the Townships of Uxbridge, Scugog and Brock. Also contained within the Report is the recommendation for the Region to pass a by-law in accordance with Section 150 (1) of the Regional Municipalities Act, which will effectively allow the Region to assume all waste management powers and to recover the costs for those services through the Regional Solid Waste Levy. Those municipalities, including the City of Pickering, which are currently not part of the integrated one-tier solid waste collection system can request an exemption fTOm the by-law in accordance with Section 150 (2) ofthe Regional Municipalities Act. - Based on a number of issues and concerns with the Region's current approach to waste collection and processing and also the fact that the City has a very successful waste diversion pilot project presently on-going, it is recommended that the City of Pickering should be a "non-participating" municipality in the Region's proposal to adopt all waste management powers at this time. Should it become apparent in the future, however, that the Region of Durham's approach to waste collection and processing is the best alternative for Pickering residents, the City has the option to request to become a "participating" municipality. BACKGROUND: Beginning in April, 2001, staff from the Regional Works and Finance Departments began working with willing area municipalities on the development of an acceptable integrated one-tier solid waste collection system. The intended benefits of this system would be to provide a uniform level of service delivery and also to implement a new curbside organics collection program, which would ultimately assist the Region in attaining a 50% waste diversion target by 2007. Given that the waste collection contracts in the Municipality of Clarington and the Townships of Brock, Scugog and Uxbridge, were set to expire at about the same time as the Region's Blue Box collection contract, an opportunity existed to investigate collection options with these particular municipalities further. - In August, 2001, Regional Council approved Request for Proposal RFP 434-2001 for the collection of non-hazardous garbage, organics and recyclable waste from residences and small businesses in the Municipality ofClarington and the Townships of Brock, Scugog and Uxbridge. Based on the submissions received, the Region has recommended, in Regional Report #2002-J- 10, that the lowest cost innovative bid #3 from Miller Waste Systems be accepted. This proposal provides for the following collection services for a period of six (6) years scheduled to commence on September 1,2002: . - . . . . . Food waste and garbage are collected weekly in two compartment compactor trucks; Blue Box recyclables are collected once every two weeks in two compartment recycling trucks (one compartment for co-mingled containers and the other for co-mingled papers and cardboard); . All waste materials are delivered to Miller's waste facility in Pickering for further processing, except garbage from Brock Township, which is to be delivered to the Region's landfill site; The garbage is hauled from Pickering and landfilled at the WMI Pinetree Acres landfill site in Michigan; The food waste is hauled from Pickering and composted at the Miller Waste compost site in Richmond Hill; Blue Box recyclables are sorted and baled in Pickering by Miller Waste for the Region to exclusively market and sell; Brush, leaves, yard waste and Christmas trees are hauled and composted by Ontario Disposal at a compost site in Oshawa or at the Miller Waste compost site in Richmond Hill; White goods are processed at the Miller Waste site in Pickering. . . 0.1 0 Report to'Council OES 013-02 - - - Date: March 14, 2002 Subject: Durham Region's proposal to assume all Solid Waste responsibilities Page 3 In addition to the above referenced services, the contract will also result in the expansion of the Blue Box program to include new materials such as all plastic bottles and empty paint and aerosol cans. Additional materials will continue to be introduced where there is a demonstrated market with non-prohibitive collection and processing costs. The Region and the participating area Municipalities are also currently reviewing their policies on bulky and white goods collection and the option of implementing a user pay service. This level of service, if implemented, will be cost recovery based and will have no impact on the existing contract priCIng. In order to facilitate the integrated one tier solid waste collection system, Regional staff has further recommended in Regional Report #2002-J-I0, that in accordance with Section 150 (1) of the Regional Municipalities Act that the Region pass a by-law to assume all solid waste responsibilities. Based on the successful transfer of these responsibilities the Region will recover the costs associated with the integrated solid waste management system through the Regional Solid Waste Tax Levy of the participating municipalities. Given that the proposed by-law will include all of the municipalities in the Region of Durham, the four (4) remaining municipalities being the Town's of Whitby and Ajax and the City's of Oshawa and Pickering can request to be exempt from the by-law as pennitted under the Regional Municipalities Act, Section 150 (2). After due consideration ofthis proposal, a number of issues suggest that the City of Pickering should be a "non-participating" municipality in the Region's proposal to adopt all waste management powers at this time. These issues include, amongst others, the following concerns: . A full and proper evaluation of the City's "Rolling to Reduce" cart based waste diversion pilot project has not yet been undertaken. The most recent results, however, indicate that an average of over 60% of waste can be consistently diverted from the waste stream. The cart system is regarded by most residents in the pilot project area as an easy and innovative method to immediately increase the amount of recyclables collected and the amount of food waste captured. Since very few problems have arisen with this fonn of automated three (3)-stream collection, a thorough review of the cost-effectiveness of the system should be completed. . The Region's recommendation to proceed with Innovative Bid #3 from Miller Waste Systems will introduce a four (4)-stream system of collection in the Municipality of Clarington and the Townships of Brock, Scugog and Uxbridge. The decision for the City to become a "participating" municipality at this time would effectively eliminate the ability for the City to adjust collection programs and/or the levels of service which may be more efficient and ultimately preferred by Pickering residents. . The cost of the Region's adopted manual system of Blue Box recycling and separate food and yard waste collections may actually be higher than other systems. Automated collection systems increase productivity, divert more waste, are publicly acceptable, produce fewer vehicle emissions and lead to reduced WSIB claims. These improvements should potentially lead to lower collection costs providing that the higher equipment capital costs can be depreciated over a longer contract tenn. Although processing costs could be higher at the Materials Recovery Facility, additional savings may be achieved with proper process control. . Blue Boxes and every other week collection may not be the best alternative for recycling practices. It has been found that the weekly collection of recyclables removes more items from the waste stream. As the curbside Blue Box program is expanded and more materials are included residents may become frustrated with the number of containers they are required to store and carry to the roadside. This frustration might result in a limited increase in diversion rates as additional recyclables may be included with the garbage. In order for an enhanced recycling collection system to be well accepted the program must be easy to use. Date: March 14, 2002 Report to Council OES 013-02 Subject: n11. Durham Region's proposal to assume all Solid Waste responsibilities Page 4 - - . The Region's food waste collection program being implemented under Innovative Bid #3 has not yet been tested. The curbside collection containers to be used on the new contract in Clarington, Uxbridge, Scugog and Brock may resemble units recently approved by the City of Toronto for use in a pilot program. These particular containers exist only as prototypes at this time and have not been properly evaluated for durability, odours, security fÌom animals, etc. . The Waste Diversion Organization (WDO) introduced by the Province of Ontario is expected to share up to 50% of the net recycling collection costs when the legislation is approved. The WDO is also expected to acknowledge better run programs with incentives and may also expand further to include other waste streams in the future. By selecting a program to divert as much waste as possible, the City may be able to capitalize on the incentives offered from the WDO. . Pickering residents readily identify the collection of solid waste to be a City responsibility. For this reason, the City would continue to receive the majority of collection complaints and inquiries in the short term. By transferring all responsibility for waste management to the Region, the City would simply become a conduit for complaints with no direct authority to resolve specific concerns or issues with the respective collection contractor. Such has been the case with the Blue Box collection contract which has been under Regional control for many years. Given the City's interest in providing quality Customer Service and a one-stop shopping approach, referring residents or becoming a call center is considered unacceptable. . Education methods are currently customized for Pickering residents. One example of this approach is the annual waste management calendar. Residents have become very dependant on this document and by transferring all responsibility to the Region a more generic collection calendar may be produced which could be more difficult to understand and overall more costly to print and deliver. Industry advisors are beginning to suggest that a three (3)-stream system of collection is recommended for large urban centers. A three-stream collection system consists of organics, commingled recycling materials and garbage. The Region of Durham's preferred innovative collection option #3 is for a four (4) stream system of collection comprised of organics, co- mingled recycling containers, co-mingled paper and cardboard and garbage. The decision to move forward with a four-stream system of collection for all of Durham Region would preclude any future shift to a three-stream system presently being considered and adopted in many areas. Should it become apparent in the future that the Region of Durham's approach to waste collection and processing is the best alternative for Pickering residents, the City has the option to request to become a "participating" municipality. . ATTACHMENTS: - Not Applicable Prepared By: ~ .//. ~. ~ C. Stephen Brake Supervisor, Traffic Engineering & Waste Management 01? - - Report to Council OES 013-02 Date: March 14, 2002 Subject: Durham Region's proposal to assume all Solid Waste responsibilities Page 5 Submitted By: - C S B : Environm/Municipal ColI""iuo Responsibilities Copy: Chief Administrative Officer Recommended for the consideration of Pickering City Council "/