The Town of Fort Frances will stay with Asselin Transportation as its contractor for recycling pickup for another five years, but won’t bother sorting recyclables at the curb anymore.
This decision was made after council approved a report from Operations and Facilities manager Doug Brown at its regular meeting Tuesday night.
In the report, Brown noted council had to choose between sticking with the current system of sorting paper and cardboard from other recyclables at the curb on the day of “blue box” pickup, or not bother (i.e., allow for the co-mingling of all “streams”).
Under the first option, recyclables are sorted, with paper products going to the International Bildrite fibreboard plant over in International Falls while the rest is shipped to the Metro Recycling facility in Winnipeg.
The town would sell paper recyclables to the Falls plant at a cost of $25 (U.S.) per ton—an estimated annual return of $9,035 (Cdn.)
But the downside to this is the amount of time—and subsequent cost—it takes to sort recyclables at the curb.
For instance, the cost of curbside pickup with sorting is $98,600 a year while the cost of labour for picking up co-mingled recyclables is $68,400—a difference of $30,200.
Under the second option, recyclables would not be sorted and would be shipped (paper included) to Winnipeg. This would save money as far as sorting costs go, but would mean more loads going to Winnipeg, thus creating an increase in transportation costs.
The number of trips to Winnipeg would increase from an estimated seven per year to 32 since 80 percent of the recyclable material collected in “blue boxes” is paper and cardboard (or “fibre”) while the remaining 20 percent is non-fibre.
At this point in time, the final cost under either option works out to about $380 per tonne.
The total estimated cost of recycling pickup, based on 315 tonnes per year, then is between $119,000-$120,000 (this includes collection costs, transportation costs, and rental of a storage building and loader).
Brown recommended council select the second option, reasoning that the town could sell off the two existing “blue box” trucks since the unsorted recyclables simply could be picked up in a garbage truck.
Not sorting at the curbside also meant management would have to spend less time ensuring the contractor is properly doing it, he added.
Brown noted there could be a change in U.S. federal and state policies regarding recyclables at any time and that International Bildrite could refuse to accept paper recyclables from here, forcing the town to have to re-evaluate the system yet again.
And Brown stressed the number of trips that will have to be made to Winnipeg might drop down the road if Waste Diversion Ontario helps the town out with storage units and a compactor trailer.
Brown told council the town definitely has seen an increase in the amount of recyclables put out in “blue boxes” since the range of acceptable materials was broadened to include plastics #3-7, boxboard, paper egg cartons, milk cartons, and more.
Exact increases in volumes since this change was implemented Sept. 20 still are being calculated.
Council approved Brown’s report to go with option two, and will be awarding a five-year garbage and recyclable collection contract with Asselin Transportation & Storage Inc. at a cost of $203,949.15 (plus GST) per year.
The total cost over five years is $1,019,745.75.
The current contract expires Oct. 31. The new one will not be finalized until a bylaw is drawn up, read, and passed by council at a future meeting.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
