Councillors in Gibsons have voted to negotiate a one-year contract with Grayco Ventures for curbside organics collection, and shift garbage collection to bi-weekly.
Council has had the organics proposal from Grayco, the current garbage collection contractor, in front of it for several months, after the company was the only one to respond to a request for proposals.
The decision to pursue a contract, which would begin March 1, 2018 to coincide with the final year of the garbage collection contract, came at the Dec. 19 council meeting.
Discussion at committee earlier in the day focused on balancing the interests of fictional town residents Mrs. Smith and Mrs. Jones – one who actively composts her organics and has no need of curbside pickup and one who puts them in the garbage and would use the curbside bin.
Mayor Wayne Rowe said at one point that he felt signing a one-year contract, as a town-wide pilot project, was the most common sense approach.
“I have difficulty with the opting out,” Rowe said. “Suppose Mrs. Smith says, ‘I don’t need it so I’m opting out,’ but maybe the next week she’s throwing organics in the garbage anyway… I think if we’re going to go down this road we’re saying we as a community are going to undertake the cost of being more environmentally conscious and doing our part to reduce waste and greenhouse gases.”
Coun. Silas White, however, argued that the Mrs. Smiths of the town should be rewarded for their composting efforts.
“This kind of compromise is probably what we need to get full community buy-in for this project,” he said. “We’re likely to get some very vocal opposition to a universal curbside collection program from people who are the most committed people in our community to diverting organics, ironically.”
Coun. Jeremy Valeriote, who also spoke in favour of some incentives, said with the Sunshine Coast Regional District moving toward a ban on organics at the landfill, which has 10 to 15 years of life remaining, the key question was whether it was best to do something now or risk waiting another year.
Rowe told Coast Reporter that the fees for property owners would depend on details still to be negotiated with Grayco.
As well as voting to finalize a contract, council asked staff to develop a program that recognizes the efforts of residents who already compost at home and bring it forward for consideration early next year, along with proposals for education and monitoring compliance. Rowe was the only vote against, he said, because he is still not comfortable with the idea of an incentive or discount for home composters.
