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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Got more trash? It'll cost you

If garbage cart is too small, pay fee to get a second one

By: Bartley Kives

Posted: 02/9/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

If one week of your household junk doesn't fit into a 240-litre garbage cart, the City of Winnipeg is prepared to give you another one -- as long as you don't mind paying up to $113 in extra user fees.

Over the past month, garbage cans at most northwest Winnipeg homes have been replaced with rolling carts that are emptied by semi-automated trucks. Although the city hoped the cap on garbage-stowing capacity would encourage more residents to recycle and compost, some residents and councillors have complained the carts are not large enough.

So today, city council's public works committee will consider a plan to allow homeowners to swap their 240-litre cart for a larger cart -- or get a second garbage cart -- in exchange for paying an annual user fee. The charges, which are intended to recover the cost of collecting more garbage, are $33 a year for a 360-litre cart, $93 to have two 240-litre carts or $116 for two of the larger carts.

According to a report by water and waste manager Darryl Drohomerski, callers to 311 "have expressed a willingness to pay for additional service through the supply and collection of a larger or additional cart."

The fees would be paid in advance once a year, with no refunds offered if residents decide to go back to one 240-litre cart. If council approves the plan, residents could pick up the extra carts from the city, or have them delivered for $25. Eventually, the city plans to have rolling carts for garbage disposal at nearly every house in Winnipeg.

While the upsizing offer may appease councillors concerned about constituents with large families or yards, environmental groups were surprised by the plan, the latest in a series of proposals from the water and waste department.

"The overall goal should be waste reduction. Giving people ever-larger carts does not promote that goal," said Randall McQuaker, executive director of non-profit group Resource Conservation Manitoba.

Coincidentally, his organization wrote to Mayor Sam Katz and council on Monday in an effort to convince the city to create a year-round curbside compost-collection program, instead of collecting yard waste every spring and fall, as the water and waste department recently suggested.

The cost of organic-waste collection could be minimized if compost and recycling was picked up every second week, McQuaker said.

The yard-waste plan, the extra garbage carts and a new recycling contract all come before council's public works committee today.

"Wouldn't it make more sense to look at the big picture and come up with an integrated plan, rather than make ad hoc decisions that stir up the public pot?" McQuaker asked.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation, which supports the idea of user fees that cover the cost of specific services, supports the plan. "If you want another cart, you should have to pay for another cart," spokesman Colin Craig said.

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca

Supersize your trash

If one automated cart doesn't hold enough junk, the city is prepared to increase your capacity -- for the right price. Your options:

Swap it

Replace your 240-litre cart for a 360-litre cart.

Cost: $33 a year

Double up

Get a second 240-litre cart

Cost: $93 a year

Supersize it

Get two 360-litre carts

Cost: $113 a year

Do nothing

Stick with your 240-litre cart

Cost: Free, unless your cart goes missing. But that's another story.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 9, 2010 B1

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