November 16, 2011
Committee recommends
bag limit
by Kay McQuade
The report of a special committee is recommending that the townships of
Head, Clara, Maria (HCM) limit homeowners to one “free” bag of garbage
per week.
HCM has been dealing with the topic of garbage for some time now and
the decision to form a committee to advise council on waste management
came after a passionate presentation by Todd Dowser, owner of Morning
Mist Resort, to council back on October 7.
The resultant recycling bylaw report was presented to council November
4 for their consideration.
The committee met on October 18, comprised of Councillor Ed Aiston
(chair), Councillor Bob Reid, Debbi Grills (ratepayer) and Todd Dowser
(campground operator).
According to the report “the committee identified three key issues for
further discussion:
- the use of clear bags for garbage disposal
- the user-pay principle, and
- recycling education.”
“With respect to clear bags, the committee noted the concern of
campground owners over the separation of garbage from recyclables for
transient campers.
“It was noted that in some campgrounds almost all recyclables from
seasonal campers were already being captured.
“The committee briefly explored the various means of quantifying the
garbage of transient campers of passers-by so that it could be treated
as a separate class for collection purposes but came to no conclusion.”
The report notes the committee also discussed the issues of
“identifying ownership of clear bags where the drop-off points are for
multiple residential or commercial users.”
On the issue of user-pay, the discussion “focused on the ease of
application and costs to the user of this approach.”
The proposed cost of $1 per bag was felt to be high enough to encourage
commercial users to recycle as much as possible.
“It was also suggested that tipping fees be applied to all large loads
delivered to the dump site including those containing a large component
or composed entirely of bags of garbage.
“It was also suggested that council also consider the creation of an
account for high volume users whereby incremental fees could be paid on
a monthly or quarterly basis.”
The committee felt that in order to increase household recycling as
much as possible, the number of free bags per household should be set
at one bag per week, not two as is stated in the current draft bylaw
and that the additional tags should cost $1 each, reduced from the $2
price contained in the draft.
Various approaches to increased recycling education were also discussed
by the committee, including additional drop-off points.
At the November 4 council meeting, Aiston read out the committee
recommendations to council and 15 ratepayers in attendance.
1. That council adopts the user-pay principle as its primary strategy
for waste diversion.
2. That the introduction of clear plastic bags be deferred at least one
year until the impact of the user-pay approach can be measured.
3. All households be limited to one bag of garbage for curbside pickup.
4. That council consider including garbage bags as part of large loads
subject to tipping fees (as opposed to counting each bag and charging
by the bag).
5. That council consider setting up special monthly or quarterly
tipping fee accounts for high volume users.
6. That council consider the implementation of a bag tag system with a
limit of one free tag per household per week.
7. That council vigorously pursue educational initiatives, including:
a. improved signage encouraging recycling
b. the production of an information sheet (broadsheet) on the benefits
and practice of recycling that would be distributed to each household
and would be handed out by campground owners to their seasonal and
transient campers
c. the possible placement of recycling containers in high traffic,
strategic public locations with an additional recycling drop-off point
in Deux Rivieres.
In presenting the committee’s report to council, Aiston said “the
recommendations from the committee are sensible and reflect some
serious concerns heard in a previous presentation.”
He felt this “would make a better bylaw and staff could interpret it
into the draft bylaw, which will be debated at council in two weeks.”
He went on to “thank the committee members for their time.”
Councillor Dave Foote in turn thanked Aiston for setting up the
committee.
Councillor Jim Gibson also thanked the members of the committee but
noted that he “would be voting against the motion to accept the
report,” not because he disagreed with the report but that he felt
“there was not (enough) time to look at the recommendations.”
Gibson was also concerned with how members of the public would be able
to access the report.
Dowser reported that a link existed on the website which was currently
broken and hoped staff would be able to fix the link quickly.
Hard copies of the committee report will be available at the township
office and copies will be posted on community bulletin boards.
Council passed the motion to accept the committee report, with only
Gibson dissenting, and will debate the revised draft by law at the
November 18 council meeting.
|
