Saugeen Shores is looking at starting a green bin garbage pick up program as early as next year.
Council received a staff report on how a green bin program might work in the town.
Director of Operations Matt Prentice says, it’s likely a source-separated organics program will become mandatory in the next five to ten years for a community the size of Saugeen Shores.
A staff report says, starting the program sooner rather than later could significantly increase the amount of waste that is diverted out of the Town’s landfill, which is nearly full.
They say it could bring down the amount of waste by 10 to 20 per cent, and extend the landfill’s remaining life by one to two years— giving the Town valuable time to plan, fund, and expand the landfill.
Staff think the Town could get a green bin program in place by September 2027.
He says a very preliminary cost estimate would be about $73 annually per household, but cautioned estimates could change once they get proposals from collection companies.
Prentice told council, “Last week I had the opportunity to go to the waste resource conference and when I mentioned that we had an active landfill in Saugeen Shores we were praised for it, and encouraged to cherish it and do what we can because of the cost of transferring and if we have to do what our neighbours in Owen Sound do, the costs could get quite expensive. We’re all seeing what’s going on in the markets right now and that will certainly fall back on whoever is using those programs, so they were saying how lucky we were.”
A brief explanation from Prentice on the difference between putting organics in the landfill versus putting them in an organic system where it’s turned over is, “When it decomposes in the landfill it’s decomposing anaerobically, which means it produces methane which is a very powerful greenhouse gas. When it decomposes in a properly turned stockpile for compost treatment, it produces far more carbon dioxide than methane, so it’s less damaging in that way.”
He told council, “In the future we’ll have a landfill that’s approved for a certain number of years. We will build it to certain specifications and to a certain size. The less actual waste we put in it, the longer it will last, and that is where the real money is, but we don’t realize it now– maybe it’s our kids and grandkids that realize those savings, but it’s using the resource in the long-run properly.”
Mayor Luke Charbonneau told staff, “What you’ve got to show the taxpayer is what they’re spending on this is much less than what they would have to spend if they didn’t do it. I think that’s an important calculation that the taxpayer needs to see.”
Charbonneau noted, “Adding one more year of life to our landfill is invaluable at the moment, but then when you talk about the diversion rates— getting those diversion rates to where we could get with (source separated organics) in the news landfill site, the savings are tens of millions of dollars. It’s a lot of money that you’re saving over time.”
The Town’s garbage collection contract with Bruce Area Solid Waste Recycling expires September 30, 2027.
Staff will include the proposed program, into the Waste Management Master Plan, and say results of market requests for proposals for organics collection, transportation, and processing will be included in the 2027 budget for Council consideration.