Organics, recycling, and garbage bins in Coaldale. (Supplied by Town of Coaldale)

By David Opinko

Lethbridge’s proposed waste collection system with organics similar to Coaldale’s

Oct 14, 2019 | 6:00 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – Lethbridge City Council heard the details of several proposed systems of curbside composting collection this week, but some commenters online seemed unconvinced.

While there were at least a few different options presented, Waste and Recycling GM Joel Sanchez says the preferred route is to pick up food and yard waste once per week during the summer and bi-weekly in the winter.

Garbage and recycling would still be collected on a rotating bi-weekly basis as it is now.

READ MORE: City proposes starting curbside compost collection in 2021

Under this system, it would cost each home an additional $8.25 per month, bringing the total waste collection bill for all three bins to $28.25. Residents pay for this service through their utilities, which the city says allows them to see exactly what they are paying and what the money goes towards.

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If approved by council, the local government would look to spend $17.1-million building and buying the necessary infrastructure for green bin service, while operating costs and revenues would cancel themselves out at $5.1-million each way every year.

Some people commenting on LNN’s story earlier this week on Facebook were concerned about the cost of this initiative, while others had issues with how long their waste would have to sit in the three bins.

Lethbridge’s proposed system is, however, similar to how waste collection is in Coaldale since they introduced curbside food and yard waste pickup alongside garbage and recycling in March of 2018.

“In 2019, the fee for solid waste was $29.50, which was charged to residents on their monthly utility bill,” says Manager of Development and Environmental Services with the Town of Coaldale Cindy L’Hirondelle.

She adds that the City of Lethbridge took a play from their book on schedules as well.

In Coaldale, residents have their green bins picked up every week from March to November, while it is done from December to February.

L’Hirondelle reports that the public is a little mixed on this system.

“We have some residents, it all depends on the makeup of your household, where the two week is pretty tight on your garbage collection, but if you are utilizing your compost and recycling bins to their fullest, you can make those two weeks for your garbage collection.”

A representative for Stack’d Consulting spoke to Lethbridge City Council this week as one of several consultants who presented their reports on a variety of different waste collection and processing systems.

As seen below, they compared the monthly rates of nine similarly-sized communities when it comes to their curbside waste collection systems.

Monthly waste collection fees in nine communities. (Supplied by Stack’d Consulting)

Prior to the potential introduction of organics pickup, people in Lethbridge paid $20.60 per household per month. Grande Prairie was the most expensive at $29.66, while in Saskatoon, which also offers garbage, recycling, and organics pickup, the chart shows that residents were only charged $11.91.

It is hard to make an apples-to-apples direction comparison, though, as, in Saskatoon, compost collection is an optional service that costs $75 per season. For garbage and recycling, part of their expenses come through taxes.

In other communities, they may utilize private companies to handle collection and/or processing, which are among the options that were presented to council in Lethbridge.

The full reports and presentations on the options for Lethbridge can be found in the Community Issues Committee Meeting from October 7th here.

Despite its smaller size, Coaldale seems to be the closest comparison to the recommended curbside organics system.

At the Tuesday, October 15th Lethbridge City Council meeting, a motion is expected to be introduced by Councillor Jeffrey Coffman that would have administration include options for organic curbside collection and processing in the 2022-2013 Capital Improvement Plan for the Finance Committee to deliberate on.

Sanchez was looking to have curbside organics be implemented by the spring of 2021.

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