City hall to vote on trash carts

Members of Winnipeg city councilare expectedtovote Wednesday on whether to grant garbage giant BFI a near-monopoly on trash collection in the city.

If thebidis approved, it would be the sixth of a possible seven city contracts the company would hold.

Itwould also pave the way for 42,500 homes in the northwest part of the city to receive a rolling trash cart from the city as it tries toslash costs by dumping traditional means of garbage pickup.

The carts would replace traditional garbage cans and save the city money, because they can be emptied by one person operating a truck designed specifically to lift and dump them.

Some councillors have been critical of the city's plans, saying there wasn't enough public consultation and too much business would be ceded to BFI.

But officialssaid Tuesday members of the public concerned about commercial monopolies, recycling issuesor the possibility of thecarts being placed in other areas of Winnipeg won't be given a soapbox at the council meeting.

Coun. Harry Lazarenko (Mynarski) said the discussion Wednesdaywill be narrowed to the potentialmerits anddisadvantages of the nearly decade-longBFI contract, worth more than $13 million.

Lazarenko said hewon't allowthe focusofthe councilmeetingto go off the rails.

"If [people] would be talking about putting additional carts in other parts of the city, that is not before us," Lazarenko said.

Lazarenko said the city is obliged to accept the lowest bid on the garbage contract, which in this case would be BFI's.

But Coun. Dan Vandal (St. Boniface) said he's still concerned about BFI having too much control over garbage collection in Winnipeg.

"The ramifications of this are very significant," Vandal said. "I don't think creating monopolies is good for our city."

If approved, the cost of providing the cartsestimated at$2 million would fall to the city, which has said it's possible the use of carts could be expanded to other areas in the future.

The council meetingis slated to startat 9:30 a.m.