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Gibsons organics pickup to start April 1

Recycling
organics

Residents of Gibsons will have to learn some new tricks when it comes to garbage day as the Town prepares to launch curbside organics pickup.

Councillors voted unanimously Feb. 20 to finalize a contract with Grayco Ventures, which already handles garbage collection in the town, to change the service from weekly garbage pickup to weekly curbside organics pickup with bi-weekly garbage collection starting April 1.

Property owners will now pay $102.50 every six months for the combined service and $67.50 if they qualify to opt out of the organics collection. The current cost of weekly garbage pickup is $78 every six months.

“I’m really pleased with the way the fees came out,” said Coun. Jeremy Valeriote when the issue was discussed at a committee meeting earlier in the day. “I was looking for something in that $200 range… I’m pretty excited about this starting up.”

Director of finance David Douglas said in a report to the committee that “only those residents who fully compost their organics will be able to opt out.”

Those who want to opt out will have to fill out an application form that will include providing a description and pictures of their composters. Opt-out applications would have to be refiled every year.

Douglas’s report also said that Town staff expect no more than four per cent, or about 80 households, will qualify to opt out, and if the number is higher the fees may need to go up.

According to Douglas, the start-up costs for the Town will be about $204,800. Of that, $57,000 was already transferred to reserves last year in anticipation of an organics program. Douglas suggested the remainder be covered through 2018 solid waste fees and the general operating accumulated surplus.

Some of the start-up costs are for the communication effort to get the word out and make sure people are ready for the changes.

“Our staff and the contractor will be spending a fair bit of time over the next four or five weeks to help people understand what the program is and hopefully get ready to adjust to the new collection process,” said Mayor Wayne Rowe.

Under the procedure bylaws, council can’t give a new bylaw three readings and final approval at the same meeting, so in order to meet the March 1 deadline to sign the contract, council planned to hold a brief special meeting.