Rural waste transfer stations in Waterloo Region to close by year end
Regional councillors voted on Tuesday to close rural waste transfer stations in Waterloo Region by the end of the year, due to the ongoing cost of keeping the stations open.
The vote took place at the regional planning and works committee meeting. The motion still needs final approval at the full regional council meeting next week but is expected to go ahead.
"If people do want to take extra garbage or yard waste or recyclings to a transfer station, there are two transfer stations that will remain open, or two locations. The landfill in Waterloo and the transfer station in Cambridge," said Thomas Schmidt, the Region of Waterloo's transportation and environmental services commissioner.
According to a staff report, the four stations were only recovering between 20 to 30 per cent of their costs this year. The report estimates it would cost $208,000 a year to keep them open, and that there's no additional capital budget set aside for maintenance and upgrades.
"Currently all of the rural areas get essentially the same level of service at the curb as we have in the urban areas," said Schmidt. "In 2017, when the new contract is put into place, there will be exactly the same level of service between urban and rural areas."
Tonnes of trash
The station in Woolwich is by far the most used out of the four rural waste transfer stations. It brought in 411 tonnes of trash, far more than Wellesley and North Dumfries combined, which brought in 135 and 131 tonnes of trash respectively.
"Council also left open the possibility that the township may propose to have a private operator run that facility, but based on the information that regional staff has collected, it's pretty clear a private operator would not run it the same way the region has been running it," said Schmidt.
He says at its maximum, the Woolwich transfer station took in about 3,000 tonnes of garbage, but for it to be economically viable, a private operator would have to bring in about 10,000 tonnes.
Schmidt said that area residents would see more trucks carrying waste in the area if a private operator took over, and that such an option could negatively impact the way the region runs its services.
Overall, from January to August of 2015, it cost the region $185,264 to run the transfer stations, and they generated only $49,471 in revenue.