Quispamsis solo recycling approach raises questions

The decision by Quispamsis council to introduce curbside recyclinghas some neighbouring communities questioning whether there is a flaw in the Fundy Regional Service Commission's model.

This week, council awarded a four-year, $558,000 contract toFEROWaste and Recycling to carry out town-wide garbage collection by the beginning of the year and curbside recycling by May.

The vote comes less than a year after Quispamsis rejected a proposal for a Fundy-regioncurbside recycling program, overuncertainty about the program'scost.

Only Saint John andRothesayvoted on adopting a regional program at a meeting of the Fundy Regional Service Commission last October, and Rothesay laterdecided to push ahead with curbside recycling.

• Quispamsis approves garbage collection, curbside recycling

• Fundy region puts curbside recycling plans on hold

• Fate of curbside recycling in the Fundy region still unclear

• Quispamsis council rejects curbside recycling proposal

Rothesay Coun. Matt Alexander was chair of the committee that recommended Fundy Region Solid Waste adopt the curbside recycling program.

He says having Quispamsis on board back thenwould have likely changed the outcome of the proposal.

If you've got 85 per cent of the population wantingsomethingand we still can't figure out to to collaborate on it, what are we doing here?- Anne McShane, former member, Fundy Region Solid Waste Committee

"Had they originally decided they wanted to go with curbside recycling, or wanted to even visit the idea of curbside recycling, that would have been three communities, and there would have been enough support to look at it for the greater region," Alexander said Thursday onInformation Morning Saint John.

"We would probably have gotten more data on what the actual costs were going tobe for the entire region And had this discussion happened six months ago there would have been a totally different discussion, and one happening through the entire region."

Anne McShane, a Saint John resident and local business owner, was also on the Fundy Region Solid Waste committee.

She says municipal representatives onthe servicecommission missed out on a collaborative opportunity that could havebenefited the entire region.

"This would have been a perfect opportunity. I think if you have 85 per cent of the population for the region, representatives for that 85 per cent saying they want curbside recycling if you cannot make that work on a collaborative model for the region, I'm not sure there's a lot of hope this model we're using now is going to be successful," McShane said.

"Maybe there's an opportunity now for collaboration, I hope there is. If you can't, at this point you have to look at the servicecommission and go, OK, does this work?

"If you've got 85 per cent of the population wanting something and we still can't figure out to to collaborate on it, what are we doing here?"

Quispamsis MayorMurrayDriscoll told CBC News this weekthere weremany uncertainties over the cost of the regional program, and the new contract with FEROseems consistent with what other communities pay.

Four of five Canadian households currentlyhave curbside recycling pickup.