By this spring or early summer, a blue recycling bin program will be rolling out for Sundre residents.
During its Dec. 14 meeting council discussed a motion to approve establishing a residential curbside recycling program this year and to allocate about $70,000 from the Municipal Sustainability Initiative (MSI) capital grant to implement the program.
"This is exciting; let's talk about it for a minute," said Mayor Terry Leslie, opening up the floor to administrator Dave Dubauskas.
The administrator agreed it was an exciting development, and said staff had been "chomping at the bit" to introduce a recycling program in Sundre.
The town has saved substantial amounts on capital projects, and administration staff has been proactive and setting aside MSI grants to purchase the recycling bins. The idea is to wait for the spring or early summer and to take time to educate residents on the best way to recycle, he said.
Not only will the program come at no additional cost for taxpayers, but many people have been asking for it, said Leslie, congratulating Dubauskas and administrative staff for their work.
Coun. Paul Isaac said the proposal sounded good, but inquired whether there would be additional costs down the line.
"At some point in time, are we going to introduce a cost?"
Any capital purchase comes with operating costs, said Dubauskas. However, the savings the town has made through CanPak, which replaced the garbage service once provided by the Mountain View Regional Waste Management Commission, covers the cost, he said.
"You answer is no, there won't be a cost."
Coun. Myron Thompson said he's not opposed to recycling, but expressed reservations about the proposed recycling program.
"I take my tins to the tin bin, I take my paper to the right paper bins, I take my cardboard to the cardboard bins and my plastics to the plastic bins. I enjoy going over there and doing that. I know that it'd be a nice thing to do (the blue bin program). Nice things to do aren't necessarily the right thing to do," he said.
Walking along certain sidewalks, the councillor said he's seen some people struggling because of the condition some of them are in. Additionally, he said there are a number of roads in need of repairs that are continually brought to his attention.
"I think that we could better spend that money this year and then consider it (the recycling program) for another year. If we have an extra $70,000, now's the time to maybe do some of these things that we've been hearing about for years" such as sidewalks and roads, said Thompson.
"I oppose this motion, and would like to see that money redirected in some other place until another year when we can consider recycling. There are other projects that are long overdue and need to be done."
The mayor said that could be a point for administration to perhaps consider the schedule for 2016 capital projects.
Council had already approved its 2016 capital budget, pointed out Dubauskas.
There could still be a quick review of what might be on that list compared with the concerns Thompson has regarding sidewalks and roads, said Leslie.
"Are sidewalks on that list?" asked Thompson.
The town has a standard amount per year that it puts towards fixing sidewalks, said Dubauskas.
About $30,000 is budgeted, but administration staff is still working on the plan to determine and prioritize which sidewalks and roads have to be repaired, said Angie Lucas, director of planning and operational services.
"We don't want to do any repairs and then have to come back because we need to dig up and put more pipes" or underground services in, she said.
Coun. Chris Vardas said the 2016 capital budget was very small at about $300,000 because council completed a number of projects, including the costly upgrades to 10th Street SW, in 2015.
"We're not doing any big projects at all (in 2016)," he said.
If council has an opportunity to bring something good and green to the community like a blue bin recycling program at no additional cost to residents, "it's a good thing," said Vardas.
"I think it's a good thing, but I disagree with you," said Thompson.
One of the additional reasons for looking at this program now is because the town knows that not everybody can easily get to the new recycling depot, which is located on 6th Street SE near the soccer fields, said Lucas.
"So they are putting their recycling in the garbage, that is going to the landfill, and that will shorten the length of the time of the use of that landfill," she said.
"And we're already paying quite a large tipping cost for that, so we're trying to reduce the tipping cost and lengthen the time that we can have using the landfill until we have a different program in place for the future."
Adding to that point, Victor Pirie, director of finance and administration, said that other municipalities that have implemented curbside recycling programs have found that the amount of garbage going to the landfill was reduced substantially, which in turn reduced their tipping costs. So administration anticipates the annual operating cost to be recovered through reduced tonnage going into the landfill, he said.
"That's where the ongoing operational costs would be recovered, through a reduction (of garbage) going to the landfill. And then as Angie says, that prolongs the life of the existing landfill as well."
Council carried a motion to approve establishing the blue bin curbside recycling program in 2016, with Thompson opposed.
Waiting until spring or early summer to roll out the carts will give administration time to hopefully further reduce the program's cost by applying for potential grants, Dubauskas told the Round Up.
While officials are planning public information sessions about the new recycling program, no dates have been set as of yet. However, the program will make it much easier to recycle, as people will only have to separate garbage from recyclable materials, which can all be placed in the blue bin. The bins will be emptied by CanPak employees and the contents taken to a central location to be sorted out, he said.
