Increased garbage drop-off fees possible for Waterloo Region
Posted Jan 21, 2015 02:29:13 PM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
You could begin paying more to dump your trash at landfill sites this year.
In its 2015 budget, Waterloo Regional staff are proposing increased garbage drop-off fees as well as the closure of rural waste transfer stations.
Currently, people are charged $2 for garbage that weighs less than 50 kilograms. Staff are proposing this fee be increased to $5 to increase revenue and to force people to use their recycling and green bins.
Since initiating the $2 fee, staff say the number of small garbage loads brought to landfill sites has dropped from 140,000 a year to 100,000.
This means people are either using curbside garbage pickup more or are making fewer trips to landfill sites. It could also mean however, that people are illegally dumping their garbage.
Councillor Tom Galloway tells 570 News that staff will be monitoring the situation and are hopeful residents abide by the rules.
“Well that’s always an issue when there is a fee associated with it. We see that sometimes with asphalt shingles
farmers will get things dumped in their fields or things get put in the ditch in the roadside.”
Budget talks are also focusing on increasing the tipping fee hike for insititional, commercial and industrial waste to $75 per tonne from $74. This would see revenue increase by about $77,000 annually.
Budget deliberations are set for March 4. If passed, the changes would go into effect July 1.
