It took three years to get here, but the city of St. John has a long way to go to introduce a new garbage collection system.
If all goes according to plan, St. John’s will no longer have to haul recyclable waste to blue bins after October 23rd.
The landfills will be decommissioned when the new system comes into operation.
In an effort to reduce the amount of garbage that goes to landfills, the city will also limit each household to a 180-liter container full of garbage every two weeks.
Tim O’Reilly, the city’s commissioner for transport, says the program will pay for itself in eight or nine years. (Joseph Tony / CBC)
Tim O’Reilly, the city’s commissioner for transport, says the containers will hold “a little more than two large garbage bags”.
More and the household will have to buy labels for extra garbage bags.
O’Reilly said the change would have its challenges, but a pilot project showed the model worked well.
“The huge response was positive with this new model and certainly some specific feedback that we took into account as part of this [rollout]”
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From September 12, the city will begin delivering garbage containers and recycling bins to households, including buildings with four or fewer apartments.
Larger residential buildings are considered commercial operations and are responsible for hiring private garbage collection.
Delivery is expected to be completed by October 16, a week before the start of the program.
Garbage will be collected every two weeks, and composting will be collected alternately. Recycling will be collected the night before garbage collection or composting in the neighborhood.
Bag labels will cost $ 2 each and will also be needed for items that are too large to fit in the trash can, a small appliance such as a vacuum cleaner.
O’Reilly said the city is working on agreements to allow people to buy labels in places around the city.
The St. John’s Landfill will be decommissioned in October. (Sarah Kester / CBC)
“We will have some of them in the town hall, [and] eight different locations located throughout the city. We are currently in the process of creating these agreements with various stores, etc., to provide a convenient place for people to buy them, “he said.
The city also plans to set up a pilot project that will allow eligible households to receive a limited number of labels for free if needed.
Exceptions
Some areas will be exempted from the use of rubbish bins. The South End, Old North End and Waterloo Village will continue to put rubbish on the curb in sacks, but limited to one bag per week, a maximum of 80 liters.
There will continue to be weekly garbage collection in these areas.
According to documents submitted to the city council last week, “these neighborhoods usually have limited and / or no access to the backyards, alleys or facades of the property that would be needed to store wheelchairs, complicated by the fact that many of these households are multi-unit. “
Households in these areas will receive special labels to put on their trash near the curb.
(City of St. John)
The city will allow households to place unmarked garbage bags twice a year for seasonal events such as the Christmas holidays or spring cleaning.
Some neighborhoods will see changes on the day of collection as the city reviews routes to ensure that schedules are as efficient as possible.
This information will be available closer to the date of implementation.
Implementing the new system will cost the city about $ 3 million, but O’Reilly said he would recoup those costs over time with expected savings on gratuity fees.
“We estimate an eight- or nine-year payback period for this pre-investment,” he said. “Again, the biggest benefit is, you know, that the environment and our landfill cost a lot less to process recycling and compost and garbage. So getting people to use it more will save taxpayers in the long run.”
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