CLA Waste Management Backgrounder & Survey Link

Proposed changes to the Tay Valley Township (TVT) Waste Management Plan

As if dealing with flood damage was not enough of a challenge, changes to TVT’s proposed waste management plan may make our lives even more difficult.

1      Background Information

At meetings held in early to mid-March, with almost no public notice, Councillors approved a plan to switch to roadside garbage collection for some, but not all, household waste from the current program which requires TVT residents to deliver all of their waste and recyclables to one of three TVT waste sites.  The plan, which was to be effective January 1, 2018, was a “done deal” – until public pressure, spearheaded by CLA, forced Council to defer the proposed garbage collection program pending receipt of additional and improved financial information and until after a public meeting had been held to assess public input and reaction.  That public meeting is scheduled for Saturday, June 24, 2017 (time and place to be advised). The Chairman of the TVT Waste Management Group advised recently that, depending on the input and reaction of TVT residents, the plan may or may not proceed and that all of the terms of the plan are up for grabs.

Some of the key elements of the plan, as originally approved by Council but now subject to change, include:

1.1          There will be no roadside pick-up for those who live on private roads.

1.2          For those who access their properties by private road, pickup will take place from dumpsters (size, shape,   and design as yet unknown) which will be placed at the intersection of each public road (e.g. Hanna Road, Althorpe Road, Christie Lake North Shore Road) and each private road (e.g. Sleepy Hollow Lane,  Christie Lake Lane 22). There are approximately 261 private roads in TVT.

1.3          The waste sites at Stanleyville and Maberly will be closed to the public, but not officially closed because       they  may be needed in future. The Glen Tay waste site (“the GT waste site”) will be the only waste site  in use in TVT.

1.4          TVT residents will not be permitted to take their household waste or recyclables to the GT waste site, except for glass (bottles, window panes, etc.) and special items such as tires, large appliances, electronics, brush, construction waste, etc. TVT residents must separate glass waste from other garbage and take it to the GT waste site where it will be crushed and buried in the landfill.

1.5          The Township proposes to charge a specified amount (probably $2.50 per bag) for each bag of household waste. There will be no charge for cardboard, paper, recyclable plastic or metal cans, or for delivering glass to the GT waste site. Clear plastic bags bearing TVT logos or TVT garbage tags may be purchased at the Township offices. The current policy of allowing 1 free bag of waste garbage for each bag or blue box of recyclables will be discontinued. TVT will no longer provide 25 free tags or bags per year.

2      Concerns

Your CLA directors are concerned that, if the plan is implemented as originally proposed and approved:

2.1          TVT will spend close to $500,000 on capital equipment to implement roadside pick-up. Yet it claims that its cost to implement and manage roadside pick-up and eliminate all but the GT waste site will be approximately equal to its current costs – except for the garbage bag charges which are, effectively, another tax.  However, at the moment, capital cost estimates and revenue and expense projections are woefully incomplete and have little, if any, back-up documentation. Missing financial information includes: cost of transporting compactors from Maberly and Stanleyville to the GT waste site and retrofitting them, and the current GT waste site compactor, for top loading; cost of 261 dumpsters; cost of levelling the ground on the sides of the public roads to hold dumpsters; cost of cleaning dumpsters periodically; cost of cleaning up litter along roadsides; the amount of additional tax dollars required each year as a “reserve” to replace new capital items at the end of their useful lives (e.g. two new trucks, transporting and retrofitting of the three compactors that TVT now owns, ramps, etc.); if their useful lives are amortized over 10 years, TVT will be required to collect an additional $50,000 tax dollars (approximately) each year for reserves;  no allowance has been made for the cost of gasoline, licensing, insurance, drivers’ education, maintenance and repairs; no allowance has be made  for the cost of a back-up vehicle if one or both of the garbage collection trucks should be forced out of service; The last paragraph on page 5 of TVT Report #PW-2017-07 indicates that the roadside collection program will require an  additional 1700 hours of employee time per year, but that additional labour cost has not be included in TVT’s costs estimate. At $30.00 per hour (for union employees) those additional hours would cost $51,000 per year, even more if those extra hours require overtime pay.

2.2          TVT is establishing different levels of service for its residents based upon the roads upon which they live, all at the same tax cost. Waterfront residents, who have paid more than their fair share of taxes over the years, are being expected, once again, to settle for a lesser service, but at the same tax cost.

2.3          Dumpsters must be sturdy enough to withstand the ravages of bears and racoons, and must be large enough to handle heavy garbage loads generated on long weekends.

2.4          Some, perhaps including some who live beyond TVT’s borders, may place one or more waste garbage bags without a TVT logo or tag in a dumpster, or may place large non-recyclable items (couches, TV sets, mattresses, etc.) in or beside the dumpsters. How will TVT police that activity? What will happen to the garbage improperly bagged or tagged or left outside the dumpster? 

2.5          Dumpsters will attract animals of all kinds, some of which may pose risk of harm to children at near-by cottages or at school bus pick-up locations at the end of private roads, and to walkers, joggers and cyclists.

2.6          The new program will likely increase the amount of litter along the roadside. [NOTE: TVT has committed to pick up the litter, but how long will it take for it to do so and what will it cost the township?]

2.7          Dumpsters may be unsightly, will likely be malodourous in the summer heat and will need to be cleaned      regularly; and

2.8          Roadside pickup may be the death knell of the Reuse Centre if TVT residents seldom travel to the GT waste site to deal with their waste and recyclables.

For additional information about TVT’s proposed roadside garbage collection plan, see the following Reports prepared by Stephen Keeley, TVT’s Public Works Manager.  

To complete the simple 7-question survey on-line, please click on the following link:

SURVEY:  https://christielakeassociation.com/cla-waste-management-survey/

 We thank you for your time, interest and input.

Downloadable version of the Backgrounder and Survey:     CLA-WMC-Backgrounder-Survey-26May2017 – pdf 296kB