The city plans to offer two sizes of plastic container for the new curbside organic waste program that will take effect in June.
The program will see every detached home in St. Albert receive a wheeled plastic toter that will be compatible with a new automated pick-up system the city is introducing. Resident concerns about the containers' unwieldy size has prompted city officials to offer a smaller toter as an option, said public works director Glenn Tompolski.
"We're probably the first community that I know of in Canada that will offer various sized carts for household organics," Tompolski said.
The two cart sizes for organics waste will be 120L and 240L (32 and 64 gallons), he said.
Households will also receive a second toter for regular household waste. These will be available in the same sizes as the organics toters plus a third option of 65L (16 gallon.)
Samples were on hand during council's standing committee on finance meeting on Monday, which featured an update on the new waste program.
The initiative is the city's attempt to increase landfill diversion by 15 to 25 per cent. This is needed because disposal costs are expected to increase 40 to 50 per cent this year because the 170 St. landfill is closing and a deal with the contractor that handles half the city's waste pickup is ending, Tompolski said.
Under the new program, the cost to residents will range from $18.89 to $25.49 a month, depending on their subscription level, said environmental manager Leah Jackson. The average cost would have been $22.16 a month if the city hadn't introduced the organics program, she said.
Council questions
Opinions of the new program are mixed among councillors.
Coun. Roger Lemieux wondered if some residents will circumvent the new system by throwing all their waste into one large container.
"There's a lot of houses that have no place to store this thing," he said.
Tompolski replied that Strathcona County introduced two large carts with its program but didn't experience complaints about storage.
Coun. Cam MacKay is concerned about the smell of household garbage, especially diapers, since pickup will shift to bi-weekly with the introduction of the curbside organics program. He said he's hearing from residents who feel they'll be paying more for fewer services.
The experience of other municipalities has been that, once organic waste is removed, household garbage usually doesn't accumulate an odour, Jackson said.
"Negative calls and emails are normal during this process," Jackson said. "You're going to get a lot of naysayers … it's part of the process."
Communication
Coun. Malcolm Parker said he's satisfied that the added cost to residents isn't as great as he initially thought.
"The conclusion that I've come to at this point is it's the old story around communications and letting people know exactly how the program works," Parker said.
Mayor Nolan Crouse agreed that the key to a successful rollout will be effective communication to St. Albert's 20,000 households.
"This change is important," he said. "It's changing all across Canada so we're going to be part of the change."
Coun. Wes Brodhead reminded council that curbside organics was the number one change that residents were willing to pay for during a public consultation around the city's solid waste program.
"What's being missed in this whole debate is the benefit being brought to the community," he said. "We want to reduce the stuff going to the landfill."
Coun. Cathy Heron also voiced support.
"I think it's going to be just like every other change — growing pains, learning curve but then acceptance," she said.
