At the October 6 Committee of the Whole meeting The Town of Drumheller Mayor and Council heard a presentation from Al Kendrick, director of Infrastructure for the Town of Drumheller and Tammi Nygaard, operations manager of the Drumheller and District Solid Waste Association regarding automated cart collection.
The presentation included recommendation from the Town of Drumheller administration regarding the waste collection system. It is the recommendation of administration that the Town of Drumheller change their waste collection system from a manual hand pick up to an automated cart collection system. The benefits of implementing an automated cart collection system include:
• Safer for workers
• Increased diversion rate. This will provide a longer landfill life if utilizing the organics/recycling containers as well as the waste containers
• Simplifies collection
• Automated collection increases collection efficiency; Waste collection can be done much quicker. Some communities have increased pick ups from 350 per day to 700-800 per day with the automated system.
• Cleanliness-no waste is scattered by animals or elements • Reduces our environmental footprint.
If Town Council agrees to implement this system Drumheller residents will receive a 95 gallon (360 L) cart with a capacity for up to 5 bags of waste. Residential waste would be picked up by a specially equipped vehicle.
This initiative will pave the way to provide other green services such as phasing in additional carts for organics and recycling. The administration has suggested a phasing in period of 2 to 3 years for organic carts and 5 to 10 years for recycling carts.
There was also discussion regarding the exclusive franchise agreement for commercial waste collection. The exclusive agreement was introduced 15 years ago to ensure that the commercial sector and the Town received a competitive rate for collection services. The exclusive franchise agreement provided extensive savings for both the Town and the commercial sector. Today there are several waste management companies within the community and administration has heard from numerous commercial businesses that would prefer a free market when deciding who to retain for their waste collection services. Administration recommended that the exclusive franchise agreement be terminated and that the commercial sector should be able to choose their own waste services company.
If council accepts the recommendations set forth, the existing waste bylaw would have to be modified.
Administration has proposed the following timelines • Residential waste collection Tender prepared and distributed by November 15, 2009.
• Residential waste tender awarded by December 15th 2009
• Implementation of the first phase for the Cart Collection System by April 1, 2010 • Complete research, review and communicate with the public on the payment service options by December 31, 2010
• Implementation of the second phase of the cart collection system by April 1, 2014.
Administration also recommends that the waste collection costs remain funded through property tax revenue for 2010 with a suggestion to complete a full review of the tax base versus utility funding option.
A request for decision will be made to the Town of Drumheller Council within the next 4 weeks.
