Turns out that even if you're a selfish, inconsiderate polluter who couldn't give one iota about the environment, recycling is still a good idea.
Running out of landfill space might be your children's problem and not yours, you might think.
Well, not so fast because all that recyclable material that's going into the black bin comes back to haunt ratepayers through their utility bills.
No members of the public attended the Town of Olds' 2015 budget open house on Dec. 1 but that gave council and staff a chance to further discuss next year's operating expenses.
Property tax rates are to be rolled back to 2013 levels if the draft budget is passed but residents can expect to pay more in utilities, due to increased charges from the Mountain View Regional Waste Management Commission.
Accounting for utilities, the 2015 operating budget will be about $25.4 million.
The commission's regular $106,000 requisition from the town is one charge that gets passed on to ratepayers.
Tipping and handling fees for garbage, compost and recycling pickup are another and could cost the town about $220,000 by January. That could mean an increase of $4.44 per month to the solid waste rate.
The commission bills the town by the tonne of waste collected. According to town chief financial officer Garth Lucas, that rate is increasing to $100 per tonne, up from $90.
When it comes to recycling and compost, the rate is “way, way less” than $100 per tonne in addition to landfill costs, Lucas said.
That's because the material collected — cardboard, glass, plastic — can be sold to offset the cost of handling it. The only revenue streams landfills have are the requisition, the tipping and handling fees and landfill charges.
“If people want to help control costs, they need to limit the amount of garbage that they produce and increase the amount they put into the recycling,” he said, noting that recycling only costs the town $59 per tonne.
“That's why it's very important to encourage recycling,” he said. “But just one person recycling obviously will have some impact but the (only) way you get a meaningful impact is to get everybody doing it. And if everybody did it, we would be able to lower the cost of the solid waste portion.”
The Mountain View Regional Waste Management Commission is also making a “special requisition” of $205,875 to the Town of Olds. At $25 per capita, it could mean higher utility bills, though that amount is still undetermined.
At an all-council meeting at St. Stephen's Catholic Church in Olds on Dec. 4, commission board members told councils of member municipalities that the requisition would be used to replenish its closure and post-closure reserve. It would also go toward lowering landfill costs charged to members.
Olds town council was expected to vote on the 2015 budget on Dec. 8.
