THUNDER BAY – The city’s organics program won’t see the light of day until 2029.
Automated cart collection is the future of waste management, said Jason Sherband, manager of solid waste and recycling, who presented an update to the quality of life standing committee on Tuesday in light of the upcoming rollout of new garbage carts.
The city had planned to launch its green bin program last year then announced a delay until the fall of 2026.
Now, according to the updated report, the city is anticipating the program will start in 2029.
The report says the work will include completing the project scope, which will lead to conceptual design work and then formal design work for the procurement process. The capital cost of the work was included in the 2026/27 capital budget.
“We know the site is going to be out here at the landfill where the building’s going to be located, but really this year is about the design, the design piece, and getting that procurement document out and getting construction started and completed over the next few years,” Sherband told Newswatch on Monday.
He also said there is an approval process to go through between design and construction.
At the standing committee, Coun. Andrew Foulds asked if the waste department is looking to use the organics plant as a potential revenue generator for the city once it’s operational.
“Certainly, there will be provisions in there where we will be the hub for the area in terms of managing food waste, right? And so there will be opportunities for communities around Thunder Bay in the region to come into that site if need be,” Sherband said. “I can tell you municipalities in the eastern part of the province, a lot of them operate as such, they’re in close proximity, and they will utilize each other’s facility. The problem in here is we don’t have that luxury. We will be the hub, and hopefully we will build it, and then they will come.”
Coun. Greg Johnsen questioned the necessity of the maintaining yard waste pickup once the green bin program is running.
“Do you think that there will be less of a need to collect the leaf and yard waste, and essentially offset that with the organics program? I guess I’m also asking how do we justify the most environmentally friendly ways leaving this material on the ground, and yet we’re collecting it or having it collected and brought to the landfill,” Johnsen asked.
That program was expanded in 2025 from three to four collections annually, two collections spring and two in the fall.
The expansion resulted in a 42 per cent increase in the amount of leaf and yard waste material collected at the curb, said Sherband.
Municipalities of 40,000 or more are provincially mandated to have a curbside collection of leaf and yard waste, he said. The mandate does not specify the amount of times it can be collected.
“In terms of the environmentally friendly way of doing it, we understand that there are some groups and some advocacy groups and stuff that do promote leaving as it lies. I would say, based on the uptick of adding collections and the response we’re seeing from the community in terms of the participation, I would say that the program is needed and warranted,” he said.
The leaf and yard waste program is part of the food and organic waste program, said Sherband, but resident should not fill their green bin with leaf and yard waste.
“Leaf and yard waste is always less expensive to process. Food waste is always processed at a higher rate. So, if folks are filling up their green bin with leaf and yard waste, we’re paying a higher rate to have it processed. And yet it’s leaf and yard waste, right? So, there has to be a bit of a balance there, and you have to be offering both programs,” he said.
