Organic waste plans thrown out

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This article was published 13/02/2017 (3505 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

City hall’s efforts to develop an organics waste-reduction and collection plan have been kicked to the curb.

Mayor Brian Bowman confirmed, despite council’s directions, city staff will not conduct public consultations on organics collections or produce a report recommending how organic waste can be reduced.

Bowman said he wants the city to move in a different direction than what council approved in April, when it laid out a detailed plan with deadlines for the administration.

Bowman told reporters he wants to see the issue of organics collection rolled into a broader discussion on climate change, the possible introduction of a carbon tax, and the overdue review of the city’s waste-minimization strategy, which was to have been completed in 2016 but won’t begin until 2018.

“Let’s have a discussion (on organics) in the broader context of our waste management, which we know will inevitably include a discussion on organics,” Bowman said. “What I’m interested in having is… a desire to have this as part of a more holistic and comprehensive approach to waste management.”

The lack of clarity from city hall on organics is troubling to the local organization that supports a city-wide program.

“I’m a little confused exactly where things are at,” said Teresa Looy, the compost program co-ordinator with Green Action Centre. “I’m trying to piece apart the threads of the narrative, reports and mandates and who is actually going to do what. I, too, am waiting on better clarity from the city on that.”

Green Action Centre isn’t waiting for city hall — it launched its own door-to-door organics pickup program for homeowners and business. Since the start of the year, the organization has signed up 30 commercial clients and 350 residences willing to pay a monthly fee for the service.

Looy said the numbers are small but said it’s a sign Winnipeg is ready to take up an initiative many communities have been doing for decades.

“It’s really encouraging to see that a lot of Winnipeggers really are on board with this,” Looy said. “Winnipeg has historically been quite slow in terms of increasing our waste diversion. The recycling program came in pretty much after every other city in Canada.”

Bowman’s comments reveal he wants to take city hall on a dramatically different approach than the specific strategy on organics council approved in April, when the administration was instructed to carry out detailed work on composting and a review of the city’s waste collection and recycling program. The motion was a compromise over a failed attempt by the administration to launch a city-wide curbside compost pickup program for late 2017.

At its April meeting, council gave specific directions and deadlines to the administration that included:

• End of August — Develop a public consultation plan for opportunities for organic programs; and, consult with the newly created climate change working group to explore funding partnerships and opportunities.

• End of October — Develop a city-wide program to reduce organics waste from commercial, industrial and institutional waste; develop a city-wide organic diversion program that would be community based and work with existing not-for-profit groups and organizations; review and suggest improvement to the existing program of subsidized organic bins for Winnipeg residents.

‘What I’m interested in having is… a desire to have this as part of a more holistic and comprehensive approach to waste management’– Mayor Brian Bowman

• End of December — Conduct a comprehensive review of the city’s waste and recycling pickup program.

None of those deadlines has been met, despite repeated extensions given to the water and waste department. Instead, the department earlier this month proposed it abandon council’s plan in favour of the review of the city’s waste strategy, which should have been done last year. Moira Geer, acting director of water and waste, recommended no action should be taken to carry out council’s directions on composting and organics until the review is completed.

Looy said the mixed signals from city hall have been confusing.

“I can’t really predict what the city is going to decide to do,” Looy said. “Obviously we’re disappointed it’s taking this long but it’s important to do it well and when it’s implemented.”

While many communities across North America — big and small — have long recognized the benefits of a curbside organics pickup program (extending the life of a landfill, reducing green house gas emissions), Winnipeg appears determined to delay even a public debate on the issue. Geer told councillors last year at minimum, it would take her department four years to launch a program once council formally gives the green light. Given the water and waste department’s inability to complete most projects on time, even that time frame seems optimistic.

Bowman’s comments indicate he approves of the new approach but it means supporters for a city-wide curbside organics collection program will have to wait several more years to learn if city hall is willing to even consider the proposal.

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca