The fee for curbside collection of garbage, food waste and recyclables will go up four per cent this year.
The Regional District of Nanaimo (RDN) board approved the fee increase at its regular meeting on March 27.
Prior to voting, RDN manager of solid waste services, Ben Routledge, explained how the increase would be applied.
“Three per cent of that is for the general cost increases we’ve seen with the contract,” Routledge pointed out. “And then one per cent is for the inclusion of yardways program.”
Compared to other regional districts, Routledge indicated, the RDN’s curbside utility fees currently sits in the middle of other charged rates.
“Some are a little bit higher, a couple are a little bit lower but they have reduced service in those areas,” said Routledge.
The other increase that residents will face is the garbage cart swap fee. Those wishing to exchange their smaller bins to a larger garbage cart will pay $75, which is up from the previous amount of $50.
As for residents wishing to swap their small recycling cart to a larger one, they can do so free of charge, as the RDN has eliminated the $50 charge.
“Our intent with this is to drive recycling as the first choice when we’re looking at curbside collection,” said Routledge. “So as residents have access to recycling, they can increase that diversion from the landfill, helping to achieve our 90 per cent diversion goal while also supporting our Recyle BC contract.”
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When the RDN introduced the automated garbage collection system in 2020, they also brought in new carts of varying sizes for garbage, organics and recycling. Since then, the RDN has had 668 cart exchanges requested with 25 of those being recycling carts.
“What we’re seeing is residents that first chose an 80- or 100-litre cart, are moving to that 240-litre cart,” said Routledge. “What we’re hoping to be able to do is when we get these requests, because we actually see this continuing into the future, we can offer to folks, ‘hey would you like to try a larger recycling bin cart? There will be no cost to you. Maybe that will help reduce the amount of garbage that you’re putting out and to be able to get longer …. get the two week cycle with your garbage and support that diversion effort.”
Routledge indicated the RDN, using reserve funds, purchased more carts last year to ensure they have enough to cover the demand for cart swaps, reducing any wait time.