Bi-weekly recycling would save up to $125K: report

CORNWALL – Putting your blue box at the curb every other week would save Cornwall as much as $125,500.

But a cautionary report from staff before the budget committee Friday warns of reduced funding from the provincial oversight body Waste Diversion Ontario (WDO).

Coun. David Murphy threw out the idea to look at switching to bi-weekly recycling as a means of saving some dollars during a recent budget meeting.

In the report by Solid Waste Supervisor Nicole Robertson, the city would save about $149,500 but would lose about $24,000 in funding from Waste Diversion Ontario (WDO), making for an overall savings of $125,500.

That’s only if the city keeps bringing in the same amount of glass, cardboard and plastics.

If the amount of recycling dropped to 2011 levels (2,995 tonnes) then the savings would be further reduced to $89,500 based on more claw-backs from WDO.

The Solid Waste Management Master Plan, started in 2011, aims to increase the waste diversion rate from 24 to 69 per cent over five years.

As of the end of 2014 the diversion rate was 47.7 per cent and the city had collected 3,719 tonnes.

The city has been doing bi-weekly recycling collection since April 2012.

Since going to single stream recycling (all material in one big blue box) in 2011 the amount of recycling collected has jumped 17 per cent or 417 tonnes, according to the report.