North Kawartha will be looking at the possibility of including an option for non-eligible sources of recycling at their landfill sites in the 2026 budget.
During the Nov. 4 council meeting a report was presented by Gary Geraldi, director of parks and recreation / waste management, suggesting the township consider installing two different eight-yard bins at each of their transfer stations. This suggestion was made so that blue box recycling from what is now classified as non-eligible sources would continue to have a place to drop off recycling material within the township.
Non-eligible sources for recycling are classified as Industrial, Commercial or Institutional sources (IC&I). This means that businesses within these classifications, including the municipal office, libraries, non-profits, and local businesses, will not be eligible for curb side recycling collection or be allowed to recycle their materials as residents do within the transfer station. The IC&I sources would need to make special arrangements with a recycling provider to collect and dispose of their recycling products. This is because IC&I sources are classified as “producers” under the provincially legislated producer responsibility model for recycling that comes into effect January 1,2026.While this legislation is being reviewed
While this legislation is being reviewed and could change at any time, currently, as of the New Year, most businesses and non-profits will have to incur additional expenses to dispose of their recycling.
Many municipalities are looking at alternatives to allow these businesses to continue using local transfer stations, however this would mean additional expenses to those townships.
Geraldi’s report suggest that having two eight-yard front-load container recycling bins, and two eight-yard front-load fiber recycling at each of the transfer stations, totaling eight of these bins would mean a cost of $1,800 each on average but that price could rise to as much as $2,000 per bin. In addition they would have to pay for those bins to be disposed of at a proper site, meaning the capital cost for the eight front-load bins would be approximately $16,000 plus HST.
However, as things continue to change, Geraldi told council that this is no longer the suggested solution as those bins would have to stay within the township and would not be cost effective.
He suggested that perhaps the township look into 40-yard open top roll off bins instead.
He said this may seem like overkill, but there were advantages to this option. He said that they would not have to be emptied as often as the eight-yard bins, and once they are loaded to be disposed of, they would be able to go to other locations as the township would not have to buy them out-right as they would be required to do with the smaller eight-yard bins.
The township’s recycling provider would be able to supply the 40-yard bins but the township would have to purchase the 8-yard bins themselves as they are used for more specific purposes while the 40-yard, open top bins are more versatile.
Geraldi said, “It makes the most sense (to go with the 40-yard bins) because A) you reduce the number of trips, and B) bins can be shared. It doesn’t matter whether our bin comes to us and then go somewhere else because again they (the contractors) supply the bins.”
However, there are draw backs to this option as well.
Geraldi explained that finding space at the transfer stations for two, 40-yard open top bins would be a challenge. He also said that having them always open to the elements, filling with snow and rain may also create challenges.
He told council that with the 40-yard bins, having them collected monthly would result in about $23,000 in additional costs for the township.
Geraldi also told council that Waste Connections Canada does have a site for producer recycling along County Road 6 in Douro Dummer that they have agreed to open up for North Kawartha clients. However there would still be a cost to transporting the materials.
“IC&I customers, and that includes us just to make it clear, it includes the township as well, our municipal office, community centres, libraries, we’ll have to currently take our recycling down to County Road 6. We have a bit of a plan that we can collect it and store it and take it down there as we need to. Or the last resort would be to put the big 40 yard bins in our site until another solution is brought forth either through the providers or the province.”
Deputy Mayor Jim Whalen said that he liked the idea of the 40-yard bins as they would be supplied by their contractor and not have to be paid for by the township.
Whalen said, “It’s a tough hit on the budget but we have got to do something for these people. We can’t leave them hanging like this.”
Coun. Colin McLellan asked how many IC&I non-eligible sources they has within North Kawartha.
Geraldi said that he did not know the exact number but it was around 500 in North Kawartha and about 4,700 within Peterborough County as a whole.
Colin said, “I’m interested in spending the money to support the businesses because by the time that all of them individually find out how they are going to handle it, it would cost way more than the $23,000 for the roll-off bins. I know I’ve vented about this before, but I just want to point out how we’ve been saying that we’re having to spend more money for something that has no improvement to the recycling, actually, it’s sort of a decline in service, but the business owners have no improvement for the rate payers. This is just money being spent to complicate a system.”
Mayor Carolyn Amyotte agreed stating that the whole point of the change was that the producers should be responsible but now there are local non-profits and municipalities that are on the hook for much of it.
Cou. McLellan made a motion to receive Geraldi’s report and further direct staff to include costs for potential options for IC&I and non-eligible recycling within the 2026 budget.
The motion was seconded by Coun. Jim O’Shea and was approved by council.
