Municipalities in the area are considering a move toward regional waste management.
Okotoks waste services manager Paul Lyons presented at municipal councils in the region with consultants from GHD (a civil engineering firm) over the last week to present a report on the wisdom behind establishing regional services.
“The intent is we have a regional model where individual municipalities would determine whom and how and why,” said Lyons. “The determination on who gets the service would be the next step, if we decide to go for a regional system.”
The report looked at Okotoks, Turner Valley, Black Diamond, High River, Nanton and Foothills County. The County currently has just over 400 households with municipally-contracted garbage collection in Cayley, Blackie and Silver Tip.
Michael Cant, principal and solid waste planner with GHD, said the industry has moved beyond the triad of reduce-reuse-recycle.
“The waste management hierarchy, the way we look at things now, is rethink-reduce-reuse-recycle-recover-residuals,” said Cant. “So what is the best way to handle materials we discard every day and what kind of systems should the municipalities set up to allow that to occur?”
With a number of processing facilities in the Calgary area, he said the development of a local material recycling facility (MRF) isn’t the right way to go for the Foothills region.
There is a lot of risk involved in processing, particularly with China’s doors being shut to plastics and issues with recycling contamination, he said.
“They’re just not taking our stuff anymore and that’s created a lot of angst in the market,” said Cant.
Despite a closed market overseas, he said there is some development taking place in North American markets to accept recyclables, though it will take time for them to be operational.
The cost of operating a regional MRF would be more than current rates at other local, private facilities, he said.
However, he said there is a shortage of organics-processing facilities.
“From an organics perspective we’re looking at investigating partnerships for the development of a regional organics facility,” said Cant. “I know there are people who want to build organics-processing facilities. You are close to Calgary, they’re at capacity.”
Part of moving forward will be continued education on how to properly sort materials and discard items in the right bins, he said.
“You’ve got to get that message out there,” said Cant. “People have to understand.”
The report also recommended limiting the amount of non-municipal solid waste materials accepted at the landfill, which he said is a great asset to the region.
“Any municipality that does have a landfill site, it always sits in a very good position because it is the cornerstone of the system,” said Cant. “So understanding what’s going in it and how you’re managing it and what kind of capacity it has is very important.”
Okotoks Coun. Florence Christophers said it might be worth exploring a recycling processing facility in the region to accept recyclables from other municipalities.
“Is there an opportunity for our region to get into the business of figuring out how you can make a profit, bring that profit back to our region on these recyclables?” said Christophers. “If China has closed the door, maybe we open ours.
“We’re shipping it there, they’re making money. Somebody’s making money on this, they’re not taking it for no reason. So how do we pick up that slack and the opportunities for us there?”
Cant said the Recycling Council of Alberta is currently looking into the economics of operating such facilities and whether there is a benefit for jobs creation and revenue generated. He said there is no timeline on when the study will be complete.
In the County, moving to a regional waste collection model could mean expanding its current services.
“This study only looked at those existing collections, but that doesn’t mean in the future that the services provided through the regional waste management services commission or however it’s done, couldn’t be expanded out into rural areas,” said County CEO Harry Riva-Cambrin.
He said the costs could vary given the number of miles put on the trucks, but a number of rural residents currently have their waste collected privately anyway.
If Foothills residents could be part of a larger regional system, it could potentially mean a cost-savings due to the larger negotiated waste services contracts, he said.
Okotoks council voted on Oct. 15 to proceed with exploring the regional waste management service and what it could look like for each municipality within the Foothills Regional Services Commission.
Foothills County opted not to make a decision after the Oct. 16 presentation, and plans to further discuss the report at future meetings.
Coun. Suzanne Oel said she appreciates having a little more time to think about it.
“I do have a concern about taking existing business from our own entrepreneurial spirit in the area, so I would like to have a moment to digest it,” said Oel.
