The Regional District of Kootenay Boundary will be asked to assume responsibility for residential garbage and organic waste service in Greenwood starting next year.
City council approved the request last week, which calls for the RDKB to provide weekly garbage and green bin curbside pickup to 375 homes in Greenwood, but not commercial properties.
There is no formal contract, but the service model would be the same one currently provided to residents of Anaconda and Midway. Residents will pay $3 per garbage tag, whether you inside or outside city limits.
A staff report to city council said Greenwood has incurred a total net loss of $17,000 over the past five years in providing garbage pick-up, mostly due to repairs and maintenance required on the garbage truck. Annual garbage rates are currently just under $100 per home.
If the city continued to provide the service, rates would need to go up to at least $130 per year to recover costs, according to the report from city manager Marcus Lebler. The issue is made more pressing by the need to replace the city’s garbage truck next year at an estimated cost of $50,000.
Lebler said an added benefit of switching to the RDKB is closer scrutiny about what is allowed to be thrown out, as presently the public works department doesn’t have the time or capacity to check every bag of garbage. “This would be a welcome change overall but will generate pushback from some residents,” Lebler wrote.
The change to the system will also mean the pick up of organic waste through a green bin collection system. Bins will be distributed to all households and the RDKB and City of Greenwood will jointly conduct an education campaign.
“Many will embrace this change but there will be others who resist it,” Lebler said.
Dropping garbage collection has the added benefit to the city of freeing up some resources for the public works department, he added. No longer having to do a residential garbage run on Fridays will give them more time to attend to other priorities. However, they would still collect garbage from parks and other city-owned properties.
The costs to the RDKB are expected to be worked into the regional district’s solid waste budget.
