City eyes future garbage collection schedule shift

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This article was published 20/11/2023 (698 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Debates over who should pick up Winnipeggers’ garbage and how often are headed to city hall.

On Friday, council’s water and waste committee will consider a motion to switch garbage collection from once a week to once every two weeks, after curbside compost collection is added.

Coun. Russ Wyatt, who raised the motion, said compost collection could then also occur on a biweekly basis, opposite to garbage collection, with weekly recycling pickups left in place.

“To offset any kind of extra carbon being created from another collection system… (with more) vehicles to be going up and down every other street, other jurisdictions have (moved to biweekly collection) for their garbage. We want to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions coming out of landfills,” Wyatt said Monday in an interview.

The Transcona councillor suggests the City of Winnipeg should offer larger garbage bins at no cost for residents who need them to accommodate the change.

Wyatt’s motion calls to implement the changes but the councillor said he expects the idea would first be studied, with consultation.

The motion also calls for the city to study options to add some in-house garbage collection. Winnipeg’s current system relies entirely on private contracts.

“Right now, we don’t have a diversified, mixed system… The only way you have leverage (to negotiate prices) is if you have your own fleet… (to) have to fall back on,” he said.

The committee is also slated to hear a previously ordered report on the impact of switching to a mix of public and private garbage collection, which found that option would cost more.

“In-house service delivery produces a comparable level of service to contracted delivery at a greater financial cost,” Michael Gordichuk, Winnipeg manager of solid waste, wrote in the report.

The city document does not recommend any changes for Winnipeg or estimate how much more partial public collection would cost.

Coun. Brian Mayes, who requested the study, said it’s time for council to decide if there is any appetite to alter its 100 per cent private garbage collection system.

“I don’t want to do another study. I think we’ve had all sorts of opportunities to do pilot projects, studies of other cities… I think we should debate whether we want to do this,” said Mayes, chairman of the water and waste committee.

He said the report lacked detail on why some cities continue to operate a mixed public/private garbage system. “In Ottawa, they’ve had pretty good success… If they thought it was grossly more expensive to have it in house, you’d think they would have gotten rid of it.”

Meanwhile, Mayes said biweekly garbage collection may have some potential. “It’s a cheaper idea. Is that a good idea? I’m not sure. You can certainly see the logic of it… That would slash the costs of introducing a compost system.”

However, Mayes said any changes to waste collection would be best considered in the spring, when council should have more details on its overall compost collection plan.

A previous proposal called for compost collection to begin in 2030, though council recently voted to seek ways to speed that date up to mid-2026.

joyanne.pursaga@freepress.mb.ca

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