Above: Morinville Waste Management Contract negotiations will include an annual large item pickup alongside existing solid waste, organics and recycling pickups. – Morinville Online Photo
by Colin Smith
Morinville residents will get a once-a-year chance to have large unwanted items picked up as part of a new waste management contract now under negotiation.
The town’s current contract for curbside solid waste and recycling collection with GFL Environmental Inc. finishes at the end of this year.
At its July 11 regular meeting council directed administration to negotiate and award a new solid waste contract based on maintaining existing service levels, plus an annual large item pickup.
Adminstration had provided council with a number of waste management options for consideration.
The existing service level includes a 240-litre bin for solid waste collected weekly, a 240-litre bin for compost collected weekly from May to October and monthly from November to April, and unlimited recycling of blue bags collected weekly.
One option council looked at was biweekly collection for solid waste, which would result in a lower cost.
As well as the annual large item pickup event recommended by administration, it also considered a brown bag leaf pickup weekly during fall, which was rejected.
A negotiable request for contract proposals was advertised beginning May 2 and closing May 30, with submissions received from GFL Environmental Inc. and Integrity Waste Solutions.
Council went into a closed session to discuss the financial aspects of the alternative contract service levels under FOIP requirements.
Once out of closed session, council members voted unanimously in favour of the existing service levels plus annual pickup, with Deputy Mayor Scott Richardson not in attendance.
“I think the addition of the single large annual pickup is a great idea,” said Councillor Jenn Anheliger, after moving the motion. “We have a lot of residents who acknowledge they have trouble getting large items to the dump.”
Mayor Simon Boersma expressed his support for maintaining the present service levels.
“To keep it that way, that’s great,” he said. “But yet we need to understand that unless there is a waste energy way of sending garbage to others, we need to make sure we meet these goals that we have set as a council.”
Councillor Stephen Dafoe, who sits on the Roseridge Landfill Commission Board, also favoured the administration recommendation to maintain weekly service.
“I’m really pleased to see that you didn’t recommend we go to biweekly,” he said. “ In my experience through Roseridge, when it’s biweekly, it tends to get the organics being contaminated. Because it’s an extra bin, and this one’s full, and we’re going to fill that one up.”
Councillor Maurice St. Denis said he was disappointed that an option to provide residents with an incentive for the use smaller bins was not offered as part of the new contract.
“I believe there is a real appetite for many to downsize and invest more in recycling and organics,” he said. “So I hope there is an opportunity during this new contract where we can come back to the table and explore what that might look like, offering smaller bins to residents looking for this incentive.”
In response, Jordan Betteridge, Assistant General Manager of Community and Infrastructure Services, said that introducing the new factor of different-sized bins “muddied the waters,” producing uncertainty in contractors and a higher perception of risk – which could result in increased costs.
“We can still look at that kind of option throughout the contract,” Betteridge said. “It would actually be preferred to do that option when the contract has been established. Then we can reach out to residents and try and gauge the number of interested people and prepare the right number of bins.”
Like St. Denis, Anheliger also seeks incentives for waste reduction for residents in the future.
”We have lofty targets for our environmental goals, and we’re way behind,” she said. “I think that is an easy win for this community in terms of moving forward.”
The administration will now negotiate and award the solid waste contract, which will have a five-year term beginning January 1, 2024, with an option to extend for another five years.
The Waste Management Bylaw will be updated, and the contract costs will be worked into the 2024 budget.
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