District residents will get more use out of their “Blue Boxes” than previously expected after the Northwestern Ontario Recycling Association decided Friday to delay handing its business over to a Thunder Bay company.
“We’ll keep everything going as it is for the next six months,” said NORA chair Dennis Brown, who also is the mayor of Atikokan.
“We had a thorough discussion [in Dryden] and in the end, we decided to slow things down and re-evaulate the situation,” he noted.
“We want to put a tender out again—this one with as much detail as we can provide for any companies that might be able to provide this service for us,” he added.
As such, the proposed deal with Recool Canada Inc. of Thunder Bay is off for the time being, Mayor Brown said.
Mayor Brown noted NORA would be working with administration from several communities, including Kenora, to get “proper tender documents in order” by January.
The revised tender then would have to be approved by the NORA board.
Fort Frances Mayor Glenn Witherspoon, along with Emo Reeve Russ Fortier, Chapple Reeve Cecil Wilson, and Kenora Mayor Dave Canfield, among other, attended Friday’s meeting in Dryden.
“The consensus was we want to do this properly,” said Mayor Witherspoon.
“We have to put a request for proposal that includes our needs and wants, and clearly outlines timing issues and the distances involved,” he explained. “But if nothing ends up coming in after all that, that’s another story.”
If a company is found to take over the recycling service, NORA would stop servicing Rainy River and Kenora districts as of June 1.
NORA also would dispose of its assets, such as its vehicles and the Dryden processing plant, while maintaining its office to co-ordinate recycling and handle Waste Diversion Organization funding.
NORA has been facing increasing financial troubles, including a $500,000 price tag to refurbish its Dryden-based plant, an aging fleet of trucks, an inefficient system, a $450,000 debt, and a weakening economy.
And while it continues to service both districts for the next six months, the cost of doing so means further losses for NORA.
“It’s an issue but there’s not much else we can do,” Mayor Brown admitted. “We know the residents of the Kenora and Rainy River districts are using the ‘Blue Boxes,’ they want the ‘Blue Boxes.’”
Had NORA opted Friday to stick with Recool Canada Inc., pick-ups would have included a new system without “Blue Boxes.” Residents, instead, would have to purchase clear plastic bags, which help preserve the recyclables and allow employees to see what’s in them.
Residents also would have been required to divide recyclables into two different bags—plastic and metal in one and fibre (cardboard and paper) in the other.
And pickups would be bi-weekly rather than weekly under the new system.