Saskatoon councillor Darren Hill wants re-vote on pay-as-you-throw garbage collection

Councillor Darren Hill says he wants to reverse his vote on the city's proposed pay-as-you-throw garbage utility, potentially jeopardizing the entire plan.

In November, Saskatoon council voted 6 to 5 in favour of setting up a city-wide system where the costs for garbage pickup would be moved from property taxes to a monthly bill. The city would introduce three sizes of garbage container and charge based on the size used, in an attempt to curb the amount of trash generated.

Since the vote, however, Hill has had a change of heart.

"I think we can achieve the diversion by keeping it in property tax and addressing some incentives for citizens to throw away less," he told CBC Radio's Saskatoon Morning Thursday.

The move to revamp the city's garbage collection process was strongly pushed by administration. In May, administration noted Saskatoon had one of the worst waste diversion rates in the country and the landfill was filling up quickly. 

A report said that if something wasn't done, a new landfill would need to be built at a cost of up to $100 million. There would also be additional costs if garbage needed to be moved further outside the city.

Hill said Thursday he has new information leading him to question that information, including the possibility of purchasing land next to the current landfill for an expansion.

"The opportunity to expand that landfill was never presented to us before," he said. "The opportunity to extend the life of the landfill, while still looking at environmental programs should be considered."

Ultimately, Hill said the city should focus its attention on commercial and industrial operations, which generate a considerable amount of garbage.

"(Residential homes) are a small amount of the waste that needs to be diverted," said Hill. "All these efforts into residential and creating the utility, is that where we're going to see the greatest return? Absolutely not."

Hill spoke in favour of the city's plan to create a mandatory composting system for single-family homes, saying it was one of the best places to divert waste.

In the interview, Hill said wouldn't scrap the idea of having three sizes of garbage cans for residents, but believed offering an incentive for generating less garbage would be preferable than instituting higher fees.

"Some form of incentive could be given, whether it's a credit on your utility bill or something down the line, to recognize you're doing that diversion on your own effort."

Wallace fired

Meanwhile, Hill said the firing of the city's director of environmental and corporate initiatives was a complete surprise.

Wallace was a staunch advocate of the pay-as-you-throw system, but Hill said his motion had no connection to her termination.

"Absolutely not," he said. "I was considering this a day and a half after the actual vote."

He said council doesn't get involved in the day-to day operations of City Hall and that other than high-ranking bureaucrats like the city manager, has no dealing with hiring or firing employees.

"It would be chaos if we got involved in these details," he said. "We had not been informed of these details — Brenda leaving the City of Saskatoon — and we shouldn't be."

The motion to rescind the previous motion and re-open debate will be discussed at the next city council meeting in December. If the motion is successful, the debate would then be reopened at a meeting next year.