Whitehorse city council has somewhat reluctantly agreed to forge ahead with a pay-for-use recycling depot to be located at the municipal landfill site.
For months, the city has been grappling with how to handle the Raven Recycling Society’s plans to close its recycling depot to anything but refundables and a few other items while declining paper, plastic products and cans. That will take effect in September.
It’s been Raven’s way of encouraging the city to establish some kind of municipal recycling system after years of discussion.
The item of business was one of the priority issues discussed Monday evening at the regular council meeting.
Most council members were plainly not that enthusiastic about a pay-for-use facility, nor the location at the landfill station.
The majority were clearly more interested in establishing a free depot, recognizing that the public’s appetite for another service charge is non-existent.
The budget for the pay-per-use facility will be $250,000 for this year and $750,000 next year, when the territory’s extended user responsibility legislation kicks in next year. That will force manufacturers to shoulder the cost of recycling.
With that legislation coming in, the city is stuck with a difficult decision. It could implement its own curbside system, the cost of which is pegged at $4 million to $5 million a year, which might be only needed for approximately a year, or wait for the legislation to come online and potentially be relieved of the responsibility for establishing and maintaining a program.
If it does nothing, for months, recycling could wind up in the solid waste system, which is a city responsibility.
Coun. Mellisa Murray was one of those concerned about the service charge, likely at $1.50 a bag, and the location, which she feels isn’t easily accessible to anyone without a vehicle.
She also suggested there would be less incentive for residents to use the depot if they had to pay. People wouldn’t drop off as much, Murray said, and more recycling would end up in garbage bins.
She proposed an amendment to make the depot free, but was advised by municipal staff members that it would require a change to at least one policy requiring solid waste collection to be a self-funding program.
Mayor Laura Cabott said that would be a more difficult process than it seemed at first.
She suggested the item could be directed back to administration for further consideration.
It would require at least a month to form a recommendation as to how a free depot could be established.
Since Raven is closing its doors to items like paper, plastics and cans in September, that would make it a tight timeline.
Coun. Jocelyn Curteanu called the project a “large investment”.
She questioned whether whatever future organization established by the manufacturers would take over the city’s depot, or what would happen to the capital assets purchased by the city for the program.
“At the end of the day, what would our real investment be?” Curteanu asked.
City staff told her it would be unlikely a new program would use any of the city’s equipment, much less reimburse it.
Several citizens’ delegations also addressed the issue, including Heather Ashthorn, Raven’s outgoing executive director. She told council not to squander the opportunity it has to establish a program that will provide a legacy for the city.
“Raven Re-centre supports this stop-gap measure,” she said.
Ashthorn said a curbside program is the only practical way of handling recycling and reducing solid waste.
“This does not mean you’re off the hook,” Ashthorn said. “You can set a high standard to make producers responsible.”
Raven is willing to help with the establishment of a curbside program, she added.