JAN ELLISON
A commentary by a Saanich resident.
Saanich council’s decision to charge for garden-waste disposal at the municipal yard is extremely disappointing.
Coun. Colin Plant is reported as saying this will mean an adjustment for people who have been used to a “free” service.
Notice that the word free was put in quotations. The article says the drop-off service was covered by taxes. If we were/are paying for it with taxes, then it cannot be said to be a “free” service.
In fact, we are charged a solid-waste fee on our utility bill.
It is a yearly fee of $165.60 divided into three payments of $52.50.
Saanich’s website says this fee pays for leaf collection, garden recycling drop-off, trucks and operating costs. We are already paying for this service.
Why should we pay twice, once on our utility bill and again as a user fee at the municipal yard?
The Times Colonist quotes Plant as saying the idea behind the new charges is to reduce the number of people using the drop-off service and to encourage more people to compost at home and use their green bins to get rid of garden waste.
My household uses our green bin, as well as having two compost piles on our average-sized property. Yet, we still make numerous trips per year to the Saanich yard with truckloads of garden waste.
Trimmings from large hedges as well as tons of detritus from nearby cedar trees are just some of what needs to be moved off the property.
This year was a mast year for Garry oak trees. Those who live in areas that have many oaks were told by Saanich this fall/winter that the leaf collection trucks couldn’t or wouldn’t pick up all the acorns and they should be separated from the leaves.
Friends of mine had barrel after barrel after barrel of heavy, wet acorns. The weight of these acorns would have been extreme if the green bin were to be filled (is there any weight limit for these bins?) and it would also mean stockpiling a large amount of green waste for many months in order to dispose of them using the biweekly green bin pickup.
Encouraging people to compost at home and use their green bins as Plant suggests is great, and I can see that happening to a certain degree. Here is what else I can see happening:
1. There will be increased waste going to the landfill as people will also start using their garbage cans for green waste, which is what Saanich was trying to prevent in the first place. People have told me they will do exactly that when discussion of this topic came up.
2. The fees will lead to people dumping excess branches and lawn cuttings in parks and on roadsides rather than pay the drop-off fees. A neighbour already dumps his garden waste in our neighbourhood park (next to a creek) despite the fact that he has a green bin and there is a sign saying No Dumping. The latest addition to the pile was a Christmas tree, and I expect a spring clean will bring more to the park soon.
3. Garden waste will pile up in people’s yards, leading to unsightliness, and more importantly a possible fire hazard.
4. People may be inclined to remove certain trees now rather than pay the extra fees for regular cleanup and disposal.
Coun. Zac DeVries has said that change is necessary to reduce the waste being generated and the right move is to incentivize “the right choice in terms of diverting as much as we can into organics.”
Will charging additional fees accomplish this? How are these fees an incentive to divert as much as we can into organics? As I’ve stated above, I can see other outcomes.
On Saanich’s website I found the following information:
“How much yard and garden waste gets dropped off?”
The answer?
“We’re proud to say that our residents drop off about 8,000 tonnes of residential yard and garden waste each year.”
“Proud,” it says.
The new fees are estimated to create revenue of $800,000 annually.
I ask Saanich to revisit this money grab and really consider the outcomes that will arise from instituting an additional cost to residents at a time when costs are already so high.
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