St. Marys council looking to bill 119 industrial, commercial and institutional properties for recycling pickup

By Galen Simmons, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

A total of 119 industrial, commercial and institutional (ICI) properties in St. Marys could soon be on the hook for paying for recycling-pickup services after curbside collection of recyclables transferred from the responsibility of Ontario municipalities to producer responsible organizations (PROs) in April 2024.

At the Feb. 11 town council meeting, St. Marys councillors discussed how the town might recoup remnant recycling fees that are being paid by the town to Bluewater Recycling Association (BRA) after the 119 properties in question were deemed ineligible for funding through a PRO. Since that time, the town has incurred and continues to incur $70 per wheelie recycling bin annually for these non-eligible properties. As there are a total of 255 bins across all 119 properties – some properties have more than one bin – the town has incurred a total of $17,850 since last April.

“As council may remember in 2024, the town’s curbside recycling residential cost transitioned to those PRO organizations that basically took our residential component for curbside collection off the municipality and onto those organizations,” the town’s environmental services manager, Dave Blake, said. “Following that transition, remnant recycling fees are continuing to be incurred by the town on a monthly basis. … The ICI properties got incorporated into the town’s curbside-collection program historically, but no longer meet that eligibility requirement for the PROs to do those program services on their behalf.”

Historically, the town has structured wheelie-bin fee to cover both the costs of the curbside-garbage collection program and the recycling-collection component. In theory, that means the ICI properties that are also utilizing the curbside waste-collection program are paying into the system for recycling services as well. However, when reviewing the properties in question, staff determined 41 of the 119 properties have a like number of waste wheelie bins in service; 51 of the 119 properties have more recycling bins in service than waste bins; and 27 of the 119 properties have no waste bins but have one or more recycling bins.

Among five different options for how or if the town should recoup those fees from the 119 properties, including two options that would only recoup costs from properties that have more recycling bins that garbage bins, Blake said staff recommended simply invoicing all 119 properties for remnant recycling fees at $70 per bin.

Though some councillors suggested that might encourage those property owners to divert their recyclables to their garbage bins to save on recycling costs, thereby allowing recyclable material to enter the town’s landfill, Blake assured them there are a number of avenues for dealing with that issue including enforcement of a town bylaw that prohibits contamination of waste with recyclables and reaching out to property owners in breach of that bylaw to offer education and guidance on how to dispose of recyclables properly.

Mayor Al Strathdee, however, was concerned with moving ahead with that or any option before knowing exactly what properties were on that list.

“Someone’s going to phone me and say, ‘How come I’m getting charged for five bins and Rob Edney, respectfully, is a landlord (in the downtown core) and he’s not getting charged for any?’ … That’s why I’m concerned about passing this until I know the answer,” the mayor said. “ … I’m not comfortable passing it until I understand because even the churches and the Legion and all these things; who’s covering (their fees)?”

Some councillors questioned whether larger apartment buildings in town were considered commercial or residential under the PRO eligibility criteria while others wondered how businesses that utilize the town’s nine-yard, legacy recycling bins in the downtown core, which Blake said are intended for overflow from higher-density residential buildings downtown, would be affected.

“It seems like there is a (desire among councillors) to charge for the remnant recycling, but we need to go back and do some more work on exactly what that PRO definition (for ICI versus residential properties) is,” offered public works director Jed Kelly. “And we might be on the cutting edge of this. I know there’s other conversations happening at other councils, so we can go back and run this up the flagpole again and provide more detail and come back.”

Should council ultimately decide to bill the 119 ICI property owners for recycling collection by BRA, Blake said they would have the option to opt out of the BRA’s recycling pickup program and procure some other recycling-collection service on their own.