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SCRD awards $2.3M curbside food waste contract

A contract worth $2.3 million has been awarded to Waste Management to operate a food waste curbside collection program in the rural areas of the Sunshine Coast, excluding Pender Harbour. Directors voted in favour of the contract at the Jan.
curbside
SCRD directors awarded a contract to Waste Management to operate a food waste curbside collection program in the rural areas of the Sunshine Coast.

A contract worth $2.3 million has been awarded to Waste Management to operate a food waste curbside collection program in the rural areas of the Sunshine Coast, excluding Pender Harbour.

Directors voted in favour of the contract at the Jan. 9 board meeting.

On top of the contract, directors also voted to purchase food waste collection containers from Waste Management for just under $200,000.

Residents will be provided with 45-litre bins with wheels and locking mechanisms, as well as a starter kit and a collection app. Smaller “kitchen catcher” bins will not be included.

The food waste curbside collection contract will last five years.

SCRD chair and Halfmoon Bay director Lori Pratt argued in favour of using smaller containers and voted against the motion. “I still continue to have an issue with the size of the cans,” she said. “Allowing the volume encourages more waste, encourages more usage.”

Food waste pickup service is expected to start between July and September 2020, with annual user fees set at approximately $55 in 2020 and $100 in 2021, less than the original estimate of $77 and $131. These costs will be confirmed in the 2020 budget.

Once the service kicks in, garbage collection will be reduced from weekly to bi-weekly pickup.

Staff flagged that a reduction in tipping fee revenue is expected because more garbage will be diverted from the landfill, and recommended a tipping fee review next year.

At the same meeting, directors voted to award Salish Environmental Group, which operates Salish Soils on the Sunshine Coast, with a contract worth $700,000 for green waste processing and an additional $200,000 for food waste processing services for electoral areas B, D, E and F.