Trash plan panned by some councillors

A proposednew plan forhow garbage is collected from Winnipeg residents was trashed by some councillors on Wednesday.

The plan calls for the city to divert more recycling, kitchen and yard waste away from the landfill. Winnipeg is tied with Regina for having the lowest diversion rates of recyclable material in the country.

But three councillors in the executive policy committee (EPC)voted against recommending the plan because they opposed the $50annual fee that would be tacked onto residents water bills.

"Constituents I have been talking to say $50 is too much and they are not thrilled with all the intiatives that are coming in," said Jeff Browaty, whorepresents North Kildonan.

"People have said they they are already doing their part. They have three or four blue bins as it is and they have an opportunity to recycle," he said.

Despite the impasse at EPC, the garbage plan will stillheadtocity council for a vote later this month. It just won't come witha recommendation from EPC.

Mayor Sam Katz said he understands the opposition but is confident the plan will eventually pass.

"Once you are accustomed to something you don't want to let go. It's quite normal to me but we are so far behind and I think everybody wants to see our city to grow, to prosper, to do the right thing," he said.

If the plan passes, 250-litre rollout carts will be delivered to all single family homes in in 2012, replacing all other garbage collection methods.

The carts will be picked up and dumped by a truck with an automated arm, putting an end to the days of manual pickup by a garbage man.

Along with the trash carts, the city will also provide homes with a 240-litre cart, replacing the current manual blue box collection program.

Theplan also calls for:

• Implementing biweekly, manual curbside yard waste collection from April to November, starting in 2012.
• Implementing a curbside kitchen organic waste collection, starting with a trial program in 2014.
• Unifying the bulky waste collection fee structure to $5 per item for all customers city-wide.
• Implementing a collection program for extra garbage bags, consistent with the bulky waste charge ($5 per pickup of up to three standard-sized garbage bags).
• Establishing up to four community resource recovery centres where residents can drop off material that would be processed and reused, resold or recycled (e.g., construction and demolition material, household items). The first centre, at Brady Road Landfill, would open in 2013.