THUNDER BAY – The City of Thunder Bay could pass off the responsibility for residential recycling collection to the private sector as early as the summer of 2024, if council approves a recommendation from staff on Monday.
Responsibility for recycling collection will transition from municipalities to packaging producers by 2026 under provincial legislation passed last year, but local governments have the option to opt out earlier – in Thunder Bay’s case, on July 1, 2024.
Getting out of the residential recycling business is estimated to save the city roughly $3 million a year by 2025.
The city currently contracts with GFL Environmental Inc. for curbside recycling pickup, with the province covering roughly half of the costs of service delivery.
Circular Materials Ontario (CMO), the producers group expected to take over the service, will be obligated to maintain current service levels until 2026 – meaning the same list of products can be recycled, and three local recycling depots will have to be maintained, though not necessarily in the same locations.
After that, residential recycling service will be standardized across the province, and the group will be able to make changes to the service within the bounds of provincial rules, which require it to meet waste diversion targets.
Solid waste and recycling manager Jason Sherband expects residents may see some changes in 2026 when the handover is complete.
“I could see moving to standardized containers at the curb, whether that’s moving to carts, which seems to be the way of the future, or boxes,” he said. “And there isn’t an obligation to provide depots to municipalities that have curbside collection, so there could be some changes there in 2026.”
Sherband said having a common collection system across the province, and making producers fully responsible for the lifecycle of their products will be positive changes.
The biggest adjustment for residents may be in how they resolve questions and complaints, he said.
“It will be significant change for the community, there’s no denying that. I think the big change is going to be when you have an issue. If something was missed or there’s an issue with service, typically folks would be contacting the city. With us recommending to opt out, it would be somebody else providing the service, so it won’t be the municipality that you’ll be calling.”
If council approves the recommendation to opt out on July 1, 2024, rather than waiting until Dec. 31, 2025, the CMO is expected to first approach GFL to determine if they’ll continue providing the service. If not, the CMO will issue a request for proposals.
Opting out is estimated to produce $900,000 in in 2024, rising to $3 million in savings in 2025.
The current municipal recycling program collection, processing and marketing contract with GFL Environmental (GFL) includes an early termination clause with set dollar amounts to terminate for each year of the contract.
Staff also recommend adding $120,000 to the 2023 budget to support the transition.
“In 2024, the City will be planning, implementing, and launching the new green bin and auto-cart program, which means resourcing to facilitate this change to the community will be extremely challenging,” the staff report read. “It will be necessary to assign temporary transition resources starting in 2023, including a transition lead. Dedicated promotion and education dollars will also be required to support this change.”
Council will also consider a recommendation to explore recycling collection options for the city’s industrial, commercial, and institutional sector on Monday. If approved, staff would report back with a recommendation by December 2023.
“It’s outside of our mandate, but we know that’s a sector, especially on the small business side, [where] certainly businesses over the years have asked the question of how they could be supported,” said Sherband. “We think this is an opportune time to look at that.”
The city approved an expansion to accept plastic containers coded #3 through #7 for municipal collection last year.
