City council has indicated its unanimous support of the development of a pilot program to allow small business use of the Airdrie recycle depot and transfer site.
According to Susan Grimm, the initiative was suggested in the City’s Five-Year Waste Management Plan, endorsed by council in July 2018. The plan provides an outline of the municipality’s existing programs and offers direction for future efforts with regards to waste diversion.
“One of the initiatives recommended was to conduct a feasibility study in 2019 to assess the possibility for businesses to utilize current waste and recycling infrastructure, including the depot and transfer site,” she said during a presentation to council March 16.
Local businesses not currently paying the City’s environmental services fee are not permitted to use the facilities – however, according to Grimm, despite the ongoing efforts of operations staff at both facilities, this rule is hard to enforce.
“It is suspected (and confirmed through the surveys) that businesses are using personal vehicles to transport business material for disposal,” she said.
In September 2019, municipal Waste and Recycling Services hired a consulting firm to research the issue. Phone and online surveys indicated more than 30 per cent of Airdrie’s businesses currently use the depot for “small amounts of cardboard, paper and batteries,” and 15 per cent said they already use the transfer site.
The majority of businesses also responded they would use the facilities if this was an option, but most were unwilling to pay more than $10 per month to do so. Grimm said staff is estimating the cost would be set at $10 per month to encourage permitted business use.
“It would present an opportunity to address the revenue gap from those businesses who are currently using the facility without contributing to the cost of the facility,” she said.
Once developed, the pilot program will enable small businesses – as defined in Canada as employing fewer than 100 people – to use the facilities under criteria to be determined by the City’s Waste and Recycling department.
“Over the next few months, staff would work to identify the specific framework, including a definition of ‘residential quantities,’ what specific materials will be accepted and what the fee structure looks like, with a more comprehensive budget,” Grimm said.
If the percentages indicated by the survey are representative of potential use, she added, neither the recycling depot nor transfer site would expect to see significant changes – but a pilot program will allow staff to verify this. It would also assess interest, traffic and vehicle considerations, capacity and budget.
According to Grimm, staff is aiming for an implementation date toward the end of 2020. Businesses will be made aware the pilot may not be successful and could be cancelled, she added.
