Niverville’s current recycling contract is set to expire in the summer, and town council has decided to switch providers. Bristal Hauling has been awarded the new four-year contract, meaning that the town’s recycling will now be taken to the company’s depot in St. Malo.
Of perhaps more interest to locals, the change means that residents will have their current blue bins replaced with much larger curbside carts, similar to the garbage carts that were rolled out in 2016. There will be no cost to residents for the new 95-gallon recycling carts. (For sake of comparison, the garbage carts contain 65 gallons.)
Although both recycling and garbage collection will continue to happen on Thursdays, the recycling will be picked up every other week instead of on a weekly basis.
“Collection will start in June and be every other Thursday,” says Mayor Myron Dyck. “It will be the same day as garbage day so that in winter it only impacts snow-clearing one day a week and not two. Also, the service provider may want to have two zones where half the town is collected one Thursday and the other half the other Thursday… The impact of the recycling program will not cost the homeowner any more in taxes.”
Eric King, the town’s Finance Administration Manager, said near the end of December that Niverville was on pace to pay about $140,000 for recycling in 2016. “The town approximately recycles 400 metric tonnes a year, so this works out to approximately $350 per tonne,” says King. “Moving down to biweekly service with Bristal will cost the town just under $100,000 per year, or $242.54 per tonne. This includes the cost of Bristal purchasing the carts for all residents within the town.”
Multi-Material Stewardship Manitoba (MMSM) plays a key role in funding recycling programs like Niverville’s. The MMSM collects levies from businesses that supply, distribute, or sell packaged products or printed paper in Manitoba, and those funds are paid to towns and municipalities through rebates to offset the costs of recycling. According to King, Niverville is set to receive a rebate rate of $286 per tonne in 2017.
“This additional revenue will be used to potentially purchase the carts outright at the end of this four-year deal with Bristal to further reduce the cost of recycling to the residents of Niverville,” says King.
King cautions that the MMSM rebate rate is based on the town’s current population. If the 2016 census results, to be announced in February, show that Niverville’s population has climbed above 5,000, the town’s rebate will decrease to approximately $213 per tonne.
“The interesting note is that the more the town recycles, the cheaper the program becomes, as each tonne turns a profit on our rebate in 2017,” King says. “We can then reinvest these profits into making a better recycling program for the town.”
The decision to change providers and introduce recycling carts has so far been met with enthusiasm. Denise Stratychuck, who lives in The Highlands, has often seen the wind pick up loose items from the town’s open blue bins. The bulkier new carts, which come with lids, will solve that problem.
“When the high school kids picked up litter in spring, I counted over 25 bags of trash that came from overturned buckets from Krahn Road to the railroad tracks,” says Stratychuk. “We have used clear recycling bags for this reason. But large buckets are even better and cleaner.”
The Stratychuks live part of the year in Arizona, where their family easily fills two curbside recycling carts every week. “The recycling is full and we have to make sure we crush boxes to fit it all in,” she says.
She adds that because they recycle a lot of shredded paper, they have to place it in clear bags. With the current blue bins, that paper would be “all over the place.”
Councillor Nathan Dueck advises residents to be smart about their recycling, and to recycle as much as possible. “Please consider new ways of breaking down your household products and finding better long-term homes for your current waste,” he says.
King adds that the contract with Bristal will be finalized in January, so the details are not yet set in stone.
Bristal Hauling has assured council that they will be buying another collection truck in the near future to manage the town’s recycling needs in a timely manner.
