Kimberley residents may be enjoying curb-side recycling services as soon as the summer of 2021, after city council voted to go ahead with an agreement with Recycle BC on Monday, January 11, 2021.
Nik Morrissette, Manager of Roads, along with Senior Manager Operations, Chris Mummery, delivered a very comprehensive report to council with the recommendation that Kimberley become a contracted collector with Recycle BC.
As explained by Morissette, Recycle BC will pay the city a certain per household rate of $35.90 to $39.90 per year. This would mean $113,659 to $126,323 in revenue to the city.
If the City were to perform the recycling collection in-house, a new automated side loading garbage truck would need to be purchased for an estimated upfront cost of $350,000. Annual operating costs to perform the collection internally are estimated at approximately $108,000.
Which is why staff is recommending that the service be provided by external contractors, at a cost to the City of $35.00- $40.00 per household or $110,810 to $126,640 per year.
In other words, Morissette told council, financially, it’s a wash.
The plan is to provide bi-weekly collection, with no user fees.
Each home in the city will receive a 240-litre recycle bin, twice the size of the current garbage bins. There is a grant available through the RDEK to fund the purchase of the bins.
“Based on the estimated costs as detailed above, a curbside recycling collection service could be implemented for little to no cost to Kimberley residents. In a worst case scenario where the actual revenue received from Recycle BC is at the lowest expected level and the actual cost of the contracted collection is at the highest of the quoted prices, the current garbage collection fee of $58.32 would need to be increased by seven per cent, or approximately $4.10 per year per household,” the report said.
The bins will accept paper and plastic, as well as cans. No glass or styrofoam will be accepted. Basically, anything that goes into the yellow bins can go in the curbside bins.
Each household will receive one bin and there will be no option to opt out, although you don’t have to use the service.
“If we get the grant from the RDEK to purchase the bins, there will be no cost to residents,” Mayor Don McCormick said. “There’s no capital cost, a wash on operating costs. It’s a good deal.”
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