Planning and Environment Committee /
Comité de l'urbanisme et de
l'environnement
and Council / et au Conseil
Submitted
by / Soumis par:
R.G. Hewitt, Deputy City Manager / Directeur
municipal adjoint,
Public Works and Services / Services
et Travaux publics
Contact Person/Personne ressource : Albert Shamess,
Director /
Directeur, Solid Waste Services/Services de gestion des déchets solides
(613)
580-2424 x 25873, Albert.Shamess@ottawa.ca
That
the Planning and Environment Committee recommend Council approve:
1. That Source Separated Organics
collection be implemented, with a service level of weekly organics collection
April to November, and bi-weekly organics collection December to March as
originally outlined in the Contract # 02105-91027-T02 – Curbside Residential
Solid Waste Collection Tender;
2.
That garbage collection frequency
change to bi-weekly garbage collection commencing six months after organics
curbside collection has been fully implemented; and,
3. That the program launch be deferred to fall of 2009, with a roll out date no later than October 1, 2009.
Que le Comité de l’urbanisme et
de l’environnement recommande au Conseil d’approuver :
1. qu’un service de collecte des déchets
organiques séparés à la source soit mis en œuvre, la collecte se faisant toutes
les semaines d’avril à novembre et toutes les deux semaines de décembre à mars,
comme le mentionnait originalement le contrat no 02105-91027-T02 – Appel
d’offres visant la collecte résidentielle de déchets solides en bordure de
trottoir;
2. que la fréquence de la collecte des ordures
change et que la collecte des ordures se fasse aux deux semaines, et ce, six
mois après la mise en œuvre complète du service de collecte des déchets
organiques en bordure de trottoir;
3. que le lancement du programme soit
reporté à l’automne 2009, au plus tard le 1er octobre 2009.
In June 2004, the Province issued Ontario’s 60% Waste Diversion Goal: A Discussion Paper, which sets out several approaches the Province is contemplating for the regulation of Ontario waste. Organics diversion was identified as follows:
· “Diversion of organics through composting must be enhanced” to reach 60% diversion; and, “in the residential sector, the largest gains are likely to come from increased diversion of organics, both food and yard waste.” and,
The Province indicated that it may phase in a waste diversion target of 60% by 2008 for municipalities with a population greater than 250,000 people (households or population to be confirmed):
· “These municipalities already have limited centralized composting infrastructure in place or have plans to develop centralized composting in the near future.”
While the Province has yet to mandate diversion of residential compostables, many municipalities in Ontario are moving in that direction. The Source Seperated Organics (SSO) Program has been the subject of a number of reports to Council, including the most comprehensive report presented in 2003 as ACS2003-TUP-UTL-0001. This matter was brought before the Environmental Advisory Committee in July 2005 and in December 2006. Planning and Environment Committee addressed this issue in March 2007 and in September 2007.
In addition, it forms an integral part of the City’s ability to meet the goals and objectives relating to solid waste outlined in the City’s Strategic plan for 2007-2010. Specifically:
Objective
1: Reduce residential dependence on landfill/dumps by 30 percent within 1,000
days.
On
October 10, 2007, Council approved the award of RFP No. 00407-96871 to
Orgaworld Canada Ltd. (OCL) for the processing and marketing of the City’s
source separated organics for a period of 20 years, with the implementation of
a comprehensive Source Separated Organics Program commencing March 1, 2009.
The purpose of this report is to:
· Update Council on the status of the OCL organics facility and implications for the timing of the SSO Program launch;
· Provide SSO Program details; and,
· Recommend changes to the levels of service for organics and residual garbage collection.
DISCUSSION
During discussion of the report at Corporate Services and Economic Development Committee, staff was directed to negotiate 10 year and 15 year buyout clauses to serve in the event the City changed its waste management approach during the life of the contract. The requested clause, and clauses related thereto, proved to be a major issue during the negotiations.
Public Works and Services,
in cooperation with Supply Management, began to negotiate contract terms and
execute an agreement with Orgaworld Canada Ltd, (OCL) in late 2007. Due to the complexity of this agreement, it
was critical to both parties that care be taken in the negotiation and crafting
of the document. External legal counsel
was sought to support the City’s negotiation efforts, with several meetings
held before the agreement was secured.
The negotiations with OCL were completed in late March 2008. A contract is now in place. In addition to processing the material, Orgaworld will be marketing the compost produced with a small portion of the finished product reserved for City use.
Negotiations were also complicated by the need for OCL to change the original proposed site of its facility, which was to be located in the vicinity of the Trail Road Landfill, due to flood plain constraints identified by the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority in late 2007. OCL selected another location at an existing leaf and yard waste composting facility at 2260 Stagecoach Road in the Greely area. Orgaworld initiated the studies necessary to submit a complete application for zoning, site plan and environmental approvals.
During the preparation of the studies for the zoning application, OCL identified an alternate site, which is already zoned for heavy industrial use. As a result, a rezoning application will not be required.
While OCL believed that there were no technical barriers to locate the facility the site on Stagecoach Rd., and eventually the site would be approved, they fully expected a lengthy zoning process followed by an appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board.
This process would significantly delay the program start up, potentially into 2011. While City staff also believed, as there are no apparent technical barriers, the Stagecoach Rd. site in Greely would have eventually been approved, the issue of delay was of concern. After a review of planning and design related issues, as well as the potentially significant delays associated with the Greely site, staff accepted Orgaworld’s proposal for an alternate site.
The advantage of the alternate site is that it is in an industrial area and the zoning is suitable for the development of the facility. This removes the uncertainty associated with the zoning and appeals process and provides a more predictable path for facility development. This site is fully endorsed by Osgoode Ward Councillor Thompson.
The change in site location has resulted in a modest increase in the per household cost of the program of 82¢ per year or 1.6¢/wk. For a household of average assessment.
Timing of Program Launch
At the time that the Request
for Proposal was awarded to Orgaworld, the target date for Program launch was
March 1, 2009. The SSO Program launch
is contingent on having a facility to take the material for processing. Orgaworld’s new site still requires the
preparation of site-specific reports for the site plan and environmental
approvals, as well as the actual approvals in place prior to any construction
occurring. Completing the studies and
obtaining these approvals are expected to take approximately four months. Expected time for construction, after
approvals are in place, is approximately one year.
Staff will continue to work
with Orgaworld and the Ministry of the Environment to address any outstanding
issues and hope to advance the timeframe during the approval and construction
process. At this time we are
recommending a program launch date of no later than October 1, 2009. We will continue to work closely with
Orgaworld and hope to achieve a Program launch date that allows start up before
the summer of 2009. The final Program
launch date will be confirmed and reported to Council once Orgaworld has
obtained all necessary approvals and is ready to commence construction.
SSO Program Details
As part of the planning for implementation, Public
Works and Services staff documented the status, type, and details of SSO
processing facilities for more than 30 Canadian municipalities that, when
combined, serve more than five million people.
Thirteen of these municipalities, with fully implemented Programs similar
to that planned for Ottawa, were contacted.
Their recommendations, experiences, and lessons learned have been
incorporated into the Program plan.
The critical aspects of the Program are as follows:
Accepted Materials: Materials accepted include kitchen scraps, meat and dairy products, soiled fibre boxes, paper towels, tissues, and yard and plant waste.
Unacceptable Materials: Plastic bags, diapers, sanitary products, and pet waste will not be accepted. Processing of these materials would result in increased processing costs of approximately $2.7 million / year and result in large volumes of plastics and diapers being removed as a contaminant requiring disposal after the composting process, as well as production of a lower quality compost for marketing.
Green Bins: Bins for the Program will be between 80 L and 130 L in size, will be well balanced for easy manoeuvring to and from the curb, and allow for automated tipping.
Kitchen Bins: A small kitchen bin that can sit on a resident’s counter, hang on a cupboard door or be stored under their sink will be provided. The provision of a kitchen bin makes it easier for residents to handle their kitchen waste and to participate in the Program.
Bin Liners: Promotional materials distributed with the green bins and kitchen bins will provide information on acceptable liners for the containers. The Program will be designed for paper liners only. Used newspapers are available in most households and represent the cheapest and easiest method for lining kitchen bins to absorb moisture that accumulates during the filling of the bin.
Regular plastic bags, biodegradable plastic bags and compostable plastic bags will not be accepted. While compostable plastic liners are available in the market place, the products available will not fully compost during the accelerated process used by OCL. As a result, they must be treated as a contaminant as other plastic bags are. Accepting them will result in higher processing costs and lower quality compost, as well as higher levels of residual waste screened from the compost requiring disposal.
Accordingly, it is recommended that the City implement a paper only Program, as has been done in Halifax, Barrie, Dufferin County and at the Ottawa Valley Waste Recovery Centre serving the Ottawa valley.
Service to Multi-unit medium density housing: Collection of organics will be provided to most households that currently receive curbside collection of garbage and recycling, but not multi-unit residential high density housing that receive front end container service, such as apartments. Most municipalities face challenges to organics collection in some types of housing where individual access to the curb is difficult, or not currently the practice with waste collection. Solid Waste Services staff are proposing to evaluate these locations in detail over the summer of 2008, and to consult with other municipalities on these challenges, to make a final determination of how and what services will be provided for collection of SSO.
Communication and Promotion: Communication, education and promotion of organics diversion (Green Bin Program) to all stakeholders (internal and external) is arguably the most important component to a successful organics program. Sustainable collection and processing are important, but without an effective and comprehensive communication, education and promotion program, organics collection will fail to achieve the desired objective of diverting significant amounts of waste from disposal.
Principles required of the communications plan will be:
The requirements of the Green Bin program will be communicated in an ongoing fashion commencing this fall and will continue through the implementation. It will become part of the regular ongoing communication for solid waste programs, once implementation is complete and residents have had a number of months to adjust to the Green Bin.
Prior to implementation the communications will be directed to residents to help them understand the importance of organics diversion. The pre-rollout phase of communications will be an opportunity to promote and educate residents about what the program will look like, how easy it will be to participate, and what will be accomplished in terms of diversion targets. This period will also be an opportunity to establish the required communications resources and support staff required to maintain the rollout. As the implementation period draws close, communications will intensify and become more specifically targeted to expected timelines and contact information.
During implementation, communications will be at peak level. Communications will take on two functions during this phase; promotion/education, and customer support.
Promotion and education will take many forms, including delivery of promotional materials with the organics containers, web information, media ads, interviews and community events. Staff also expect a significant increase in customer calls during this period, which will require a number of dedicated customer service staff to handle the anticipated volumes. Full support to councillors by staff to assist with responses to resident queries and complaints will also be factored into the support requirements.
It is imperative during the implementation phase that councillors and senior staff rely on the assistance of solid waste staff to respond to resident’s concerns and complaints.
As the implementation phase finishes and the Green Bin Program becomes an on-going operation, the requirement to communicate will continue but will not be as extensive as during the launch period.
Communications and public education requirements will be coordinated with the Cities Corporate Communications group and supported by outsourcing as required.
Program Rollout: It is expected that the delivery of bins to residents across the City will take approximately 12 weeks.
During the delivery process, personnel will be available to discuss with residents the Program approach and the requirements such as acceptable materials, collection dates and other pertinent information. Experience in other communities has shown that there is significant interest from the public at Program start-up, and local information services become inundated with calls. The most effective method of managing this expected high volume of calls is to provide additional personnel for information services over the launch period. Staff will work closely with Corporate Communications and 3-1-1 to ensure these issues are addressed.
It is expected that residents will begin to receive collection of organics the week after they receive their green bin. During initial pickup, Waste Collection personnel and Solid Waste Services inspectors will monitor participation and material quality. They will then provide information and follow-up with residents as required, to both maximize participation and improve product quality.
Organics Collection Frequency
The first opportunity to define the level of service for a new organics collection program was with the development and award of the Solid Waste Collection Contracts for 2006-2012. The service level tendered and envisioned at that time (2005) included:
Organics
collection to commence in 2008 with weekly organics collection April to
November, and bi-weekly organics collection December to March, with an
option for weekly or biweekly collection of residual garbage.
In November 2005, Council approved the level of service for the implementation of the SSO Program as follows:
· Weekly collection of organics year round;
· Weekly collection of residual garbage; and,
· Alternate weekly collection of blue and black boxes.
The cost of this increased level of organics collection frequency was not known at the time, as it had not been included as a contract option in the tender.
For Council’s consideration, staff recently requested updated bids from all current contractors, solidifying the cost of the eight additional winter collections to provide this level of service at $21.769 million over the remaining three years of the contract. The impact of this service level on the annual operating budget is detailed in Table 3.
During warm months, most programs rely on weekly collection. However, in cold climates, such as here in Ottawa, utilization of bi-weekly collection during the winter months is common.
A survey carried out in 2004 for the City of Ottawa, by David Redmond and Associates, found that a strong majority of Compost Plus + (85%) participants are of the opinion that organics collection every second week is acceptable in winter.
Collecting organics on a weekly basis through the winter does not appear to have significant benefits. However, the costs are significant. Staff, therefore, recommend maintaining the collection of organics weekly from beginning of April to the end of November and bi-weekly from December to the end of March, and with the incremental cost of over $7 million per year, staff does not recommend adding the 8-9 extra organics collections during the winter months.
Residual Garbage - Collection Frequency
In November 2005, Council chose to maintain a weekly level of service for residual waste collection rather than move from weekly to bi-weekly with the implementation of the Source Separated Organics Program.
On September 25, 2007, report # ACS2007-PWS-UTL-0019, presented to Planning and Environment Committee noted, “This report does not include alternative schedule options for residual garbage collection (bi-weekly). However, staff will be reviewing contract negotiations with the City’s three collection contractors and will present findings to Committee and Council for consideration.”
The frequency of residual garbage collection was also brought forward as a budget reduction option in the 2008 budget process, and referred back to Planning and Environment Committee. (Motions attached)
Advantages if bi-weekly collection include:
§ Most residents that use their Green Bins will find that their remaining waste is predominately dry inorganic waste that does not cause odours or attract pests. As organics constitute 30-40% of household wastes, residents will also find that the volume of waste remaining after making use of the Green Bin, Blue Box, and Black Box will be limited. Accordingly, bi-weekly collection of residual waste should be neither inconvenient nor a health issue to those residents;
§ Residents that do not use their Green Bin will be inconvenienced, and this is perhaps the greatest incentive for them to comply with Ottawa’s Solid Waste By-law that requires everyone to participate in the City’s recycling programs;
§ Bi-weekly collection of residual waste has been demonstrated to not only increase participation in organics programs, but also results in overall increases in diversion rates in recycling programs, which increases revenues from the sale of recyclables; and,
§ There are environmental benefits to reducing the number of trips made by garbage trucks, particularly if the volumes being collected are significantly less. A reduction in the number of trips made to collect residual garbage will help to offset the increase in trips made to collect organics.
During the investigations of programs in other municipalities staff found that more than half of the municipalities that have organics programs have bi-weekly pick up of dry garbage (residual waste). None of these municipalities when contacted indicated that they receive on-going complaints from the public regarding this level of service. In fact, a recent survey conducted by Durham Region found significant differences in household participation rates where bi-weekly collection was implemented:
§ An average residential diversion rate of 43% in the four municipalities that have weekly dry-garbage pick-up; versus,
§ An average residential diversion rate of 56% in the four municipalities that have bi-weekly dry garbage collection—a 13% increase in the diversion rate.
If Ottawa implements bi-weekly residual garbage collection, the resulting increase in overall recycling rates and associated revenues due to increased recovery of materials is estimated to be $400,000 per year, and a yearly savings in residual garbage collection costs of $2.7M.
Staff recognise that residents will need time to adapt to the Green Bin Program and that adding the burden of decreased waste collection service would create difficulty and confusion. We also believe that providing residents with some time to use the green bins and notice the reduction in waste will provide them with some comfort that bi-weekly residual waste collection will not be a problem. Accordingly, it is recommended that bi-weekly residual garbage collection commence six months after the full SSO Program is implemented.
Implementation of a residential Source Separated Organics Program will yield several environmental benefits. The most obvious benefit is the increased diversion of residential waste from landfill, the extended life of the Trail Waste Facility and, therefore, the deferred need to expand or establish new landfills with impacts on the natural and built environment. With our current recycling rate of just over 30% and the potential Organics diversion as the Program grows and matures in the range of 30%, achieving the 60% residential diversion target becomes a more realistic endeavour.
Other benefits of a residential organics Program include:
In accordance with the September 25, 2007, report to Planning and Environment Committee, organics collections will be provided to rural residents who are within a rural village or country estate subdivision. This level of service is consistent with that of leaf and yard waste pickup in rural areas.
The SSO Program, and the level of service proposed for rural areas, was a topic of discussion at the April 5th Rural Summit. Participants were split on their opinion of what areas should receive SSO service. All of the participants agreed that it was a good idea to “offer free composters to each household that is not eligible for source separated organics pickup.”
The cost of expanding service to the remaining rural area, outside the villages and estate subdivisions is $17.3 million over the remaining 3 years of the contract. It is staff’s recommendation that the level of service for collection of organics in the rural area should be consistent with the collection of leaf and yard waste. This should help to avoid confusion.
Staff are investigating the use of backyard composters for rural residents, who will not be receiving green bin service, so they can participate in increasing the diversion of organics from the landfill.
Extensive public consultation was conducted from 1996 through to 2005 on organics implementation, including open houses, a public liaison committee, phone and paper survey feedback, as well as monitoring and feedback from two separate pilots.
The Environmental Advisory Committee was consulted in July 2005 and again in December 2006. On both occasions they endorsed implementation of an SSO Program.
Members of the public addressed Planning and Environment Committee in March and September 2007, at which time representation from the public was heard in support of the Source Separated Organics Program.
The SSO Program, and the level of service proposed, was also a topic of discussion at the April 5, 2008 Rural Summit.
On October 10, 2007, Council approved the implementation of a Source Separated Organics Program and associated Capital and Operating budgets as follows:
Capital
Budget
|
SSO
Capital Costs as Approved |
|
|
Requirement |
2007
$ |
|
· Purchase & distribution of organics bins[1][8] |
11,925,000 |
|
· Communications, Education and Compliance Promotion |
1,450,000 |
|
· Start up costs for Zone 3 City In-House Collection Group |
|
|
· Organics Collection Vehicles (9 @ $312,000) |
2,808,000 |
|
· Facility Upgrades for the In-House Group |
485,000 |
|
· Vehicles for Additional Inspector and Supervisor |
95,000 |
|
Total
Capital Budget Approved in 2007 |
16,763,000 |
Funding for this requirement is available in the Solid Waste Compensation Reserve Fund. This report has no further implications to this approved capital budget.
Operating
Budget
Approved operating budget program costs are detailed in Table 1 and summarized in Table 2. Approval of this report has no Operating Budget or tax implications for 2008 since the implementation of SSO is not scheduled until the fall of 2009. Initial costs estimates and Operating Budget impacts were previously approved by Council based on a March 1, 2009 implementation date. Operating Budget impacts have been revised based on the revised implementation date and are detailed in Table 1 and summarized in Table 2. Also identified in both tables are the impacts of implementing bi-weekly garbage collection instead of weekly garbage collection once SSO begins.
The net annual incremental cost of the SSO Program, with weekly residual garbage collection, on Solid Waste Services Division annual operating costs is estimated at approximately $13.4 million which equates to $34/household/year (or $0.66/week) for a household of average assessment. This cost would drop to approximately $12.1 million, or $31/household/year ($0.60/week) (based on average assessment), if residual garbage is collected on a bi-weekly basis.
The 2009 (part year) costs/pressures and 2010 (full year) annualization of these costs will be identified in the 2008-2010 Long Range Financial Plan Operating Budget Pressures. Costs for 2011 and beyond will be subject to regular inflation for CPI contract increases and growth pressures due to changes in tonnages.
SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION
Document
1 – Financial Details (Table 1, 2 and 3)
Public Works and Services will continue to develop the implementation plan for rollout of the SSO Program and report back to Council with firm program start dates once Orgaworld has obtained all necessary approvals for construction.