Sarnia seeking input on waste master plan

Sarnia is targeting 2027 to start a city green bin program.

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The organics collection program that would divert food waste from local landfill would cost about $2.7 million in startup costs, to purchase things such as bins and collection trucks, then another $2.8 million for collection and processing contracts, a $90,000 Dillon Consulting postponement for the city says.

Organic waste is typically about 40 per cent of household waste where green bin programs aren’t present, it says.

Meanwhile, another reportfrom city staff, notes Sarnia only diverts 36 per cent of its waste from landfill, well below the provincial average of 49 per cent.

Diversion programs include recycling, green bins, and yard collection programs, including at transfer stations.

With limited landfill space — eight years’ capacity remains at Waste Management’s Twin Creeks facility in Watford without expansion — an organics program could buy more time, and reduce the amount of methane gas released to the atmosphere, it says.

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Sarnia had been targeting 2025 to start its organics program, in line with a provincial policy statement that’s expected to become legislation, but it takes time to order equipment, said city engineering and operations general manager David Jackson.

“It’s a big change, but we also know it’s one that many in the community have been waiting for,” he said.

It’s also just one aspect of a waste master plan on which the city is seeking public input.

Other parts of the plan include proposed collection route changes, to make it easier on contractors who have some disproportionately busy days, Jackson said, how often brush and yard waste is collected, and whether to collect Christmas trees or just open the city’s compost facility for drop-off.

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Wheel carts for garbage and recycling, common in other municipalities, are also proposed to start in Sarnia in 2027.

They’re considered a best practice because they help with contractor safety, system efficiency and neighborhood cleanliness, Jackson said.

But there can be challenges with storing them, he said.

Hopes are to hear feedback about things like that “so we can plan as we roll those out how we would mitigate some of those concerns,” and about things like how many yard waste collection days there should be, he said.

“Then, there’s a corresponding impact on the budget, whether we save a few dollars there or it would cost us more to increase the service,” he said.

People have until Oct. 22 to weigh in at speakupsarnia.ca/wmpwhere both reports are available.

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An open house also is planned for Oct. 9 at 7 pm at Pat Stapleton Arena for people to learn more and ask questions.

Both reports and people’s input is expected to come to city council later this year, Jackson said.

“And then, there are a number of specific things we’d be looking for direction from council on,” he said.

One is whether to pay so commercial areas like downtown, Mitton Village and Northgate continue to get recycling collection service, he said.

Sarnia was among the first municipalities in Ontario to transfer recycling collection responsibility to producers in 2023.

Collection in that handful of mixed residential and commercial zones in the city, and for institutions such as churches along collection routes in residential neighborhoods, was grandfathered to 2026 amid the provincial transition period, at a $90,000-a-year cost to the city, Jackson said.

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Municipalities aren’t required to collect waste outside residential areas, but Sarnia did for those specific jurisdictions and the odd institution along a residential route because of their mixed zoning, and because it was convenient, Jackson said.

The grandfathering stops in 2026, after which Circular Materials, which collects on behalf of producers, is no longer willing, he said.

If Sarnia opts to take on collection in those areas and for institutions, it would mean contracting someone else to go to those properties specifically, he said, noting doing so would likely be inefficient and costly.

“So, we need to have that debate as a community, of is that a service we still want to provide?” he said.

Sarnia is also in talks with Lambton County about how much it’ll have to pay for landfill costs, with the city’s looming green bin program expected to substantially reduce how much Sarnia sends to landfill, he said.

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Other municipalities in Lambton aren’t big enough by population that they have to introduce green bin programs, but they’ll nevertheless have an option to piggyback with Sarnia when it comes to contracting services, Jackson said.

“We all then manage it on our own, but you hope to attract a better bid by increasing the scale of the service,” he said.

There are a number of organics waste processing facilities relatively nearby, meaning Sarnia can reasonably contract processing instead of building its own facility, he noted.

If Sarnia is the only municipality in Lambton required to have a green bin program, it doesn’t make sense it should pay as much to the county in landfill costs, he said.

“So, we would just change how that program is funded,” he said.

The county also is planning its own waste master plan in 2025, so the timing works well for discussions, he said.

Sarnia’s waste collection contract with Marcotte Disposal is up at the end of next June, after it was extended for two years in 2023 for $5 million.

City staff previously recommended banking savings from recycling program changes to help pay for the planned organics program.

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