(Supplied by City of Lethbridge)

By David Opinko

Large condo owners ask for opt-out of Lethbridge’s curbside recycling program

Sep 15, 2020 | 11:25 AM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – If you can do it for less than one-tenth of the cost, why change?

That was the question a consortium of condo companies asked Lethbridge City Council at Monday’s Community Issues Committee meeting.

In January 2021, condominium and apartment buildings with more than 45 units will be brought on to the city’s curbside recycling collection program.

Brian Freeze is a spokesperson representing large condo owners in the city and says they have been utilizing a private recycling collection program for years now that is significantly cheaper than what the city offers.

In the chart below, it shows that Lethbridge’s largest condo communities pay anywhere from 52 cents to $2.67 per unit per month for recycling collection.

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With the city’s service, that would go up to $7 per unit per month.

(Supplied by City of Lethbridge)

(Supplied by City of Lethbridge)

(Supplied by City of Lethbridge)

Freeze is formally part of the Sierras of Courtyard Terrace development.

For their 252 units, their current private program works out to approximately $1,800 annually for the entire community, whereas the one with the city would work out to just over $21,000.

“We’re telling the city, if it works, let us continue doing it, and at the same time, don’t put these small businesses out of business that service us because they’re essential and they have seen a market and a niche there and we think they should be allowed to grow.”

Freeze says part of the reason why their recycling costs, through Curbside Recycler, are so low is that the residents sort the materials themselves. The company then takes the materials and sells them to another processor.

The condo companies are asking that city council either reclassify high-density residences as commercial properties, and therefore, allow for them to contract private services if they choose, or to revise the monthly rates of the city’s collection program to reflect economies of scale.

Joel Sanchez, the General Manager for the City of Lethbridge’s Waste & Recycling department, says the reason that their program costs more is “to recover the costs for collection,” such as buying standardized bins, trucks, labour, the cost of running their own Materials Recovery Facility, processing recyclable materials, and for public education.

He also spoke on the suggestion that the city allow the large condo developments to opt-out of the city’s service.

“The minute you do opting-out and you let those go out, what happens is the ones we have implemented are going to say they don’t want to do it, they don’t want to pay if we have an opt-out clause. The ones that really want to do it, we have a fixed cost, which means we will have to recover more from them in order to deliver the program.”

City council is set to vote on potential amendments to the curbside recycling program at the Monday, September 21 regular meeting.