Owen Sound is going to be extending its waste management contract for one more year, to allow more time to prepare for some potential major changes.
The city’s operations committee is recommending a second one-year option be exercised in Owen Sound’s current curbside waste collection contract with Miller Waste. That would maintain the status quo for garbage and recycling collection until May 31, 2025.
“What we’re suggesting is that we enter into this one final year of an extension so we can plan this out properly, give us plenty of lead time and give the contractor that ends up winning the contract plenty of lead time,” Owen Sound’s Director of Public Works and Engineering Lara Widdifield told committee members during a Dec. 14 meeting. “And we can engage … so the public education component is fully developed and out there when we start with our new system.”
A green bin program for organics, and an automated cart system for curbside waste collection were mentioned as possible changes that could come.
But, a better idea about how the city’s waste management system could shift in 2025 will come after bids arrive on a request for proposals (RFP) for a new contract. The RFP is expected to go out by April 2024.
The city will be pursuing an eight-year term for its new waste management contract.
Widdifield says Owen Sound plans to issue its RFP with two options. One would be similar to the current curbside waste collection service, and the other would include a green bin program.
“And theoretically, we should know how much extra source separated organics would be costing us over the traditional waste removal program,” Widdifield explains.
Earlier this year, a consultant estimated it could cost the city as much as $1.8-million annually to run a green bin program. That’s in addition to initial costs, such as buying green bins. Owen Sound already has $600,000 allocated in its 2025 capital budget for start-up costs related to curbside organics waste collection.
Owen Sound currently charges a fee for curbside garbage bag collection, requiring a tag on each bag picked up. Council recently approved raising the price of a garbage bag tag to $3.50 each, an increase that is expected to be implemented in mid-January 2024.
