Edmonton's 'Cadillac system' of garbage collection likely coming to an end, mayor says

Cardboard, glass, plastic, kitchen scraps and toxic waste Edmontonians will be asked to sort more trash at home after an auditor's report shows the city's aging waste management system doesn't do the job well anymore.

"Folks thought that maybe they could just throw everything in one bag," Coun. Aaron Paquette said at an audit committee meeting Friday.

There was a time when they could.

That was before the city auditor's report revealed that Edmonton is fallingfar behind its 2012 target of keeping 90 per cent of residential waste out of the landfill.

• Garbage audit shows Edmonton falls short of standards

The city's beendiverting about 50 per cent of its residential waste from the dump over the past five years.

Councillors said it's time to put more onus on the individual.

"The more we create a Cadillac system that does it for people, the more it's going to cost," Mayor Don Iveson said.

We've been sluggish to respond to changes.- Coun. Michael Walters

He said most jurisdictions have at least a three-bin system that requires people to sort their organics, recyclable materials and regular waste.

"People all around the world do it.It's probably time for Edmonton to move in that direction," Iveson said.

Coun. Andrew Knack said the city needs to focus on reducing and reusing as well assorting.

"I don't think it's going to be unreasonable to ask people to do a little more, take a few extra minutes and sort their organics from something else," Knack said.

Alberta at the bottom

Alberta produced more garbage than any other province in 2014 twice as much waste per person as Newfoundland and three times as much as Nova Scotia,according to Statistics Canada.

City administration presented the 2014 data Friday,showing Albertaproduced981 kilograms of waste per person. Second-placeSaskatchewan generated832 kilogramsper person.

Ivesonwasn't surprised by the numbers but said it showsdiverting a higher percentage of waste is "even more critical from an environmental stewardship point of view."

Nova Scotia generatedthe least amount of garbage at 387 kilograms per person.Statistics weren't available for PEI,Yukon, theNorthwest Territoriesand Nunavut.

"Boy, I had thought we'd be better than what we were," Knack said.

He said the numbers may encourage Albertans as a whole to try to improve.

"We can do far better than what we're doing now," Knack said.

Lost standing

Councillors are clearly disappointed with the city's report card on its once illustrious record in waste management.

"At one time we were very much leading-edge," city manager Linda Cochane told the audit committee. "And we need to get better oversight."

The city's deputy operating manager, Doug Jones, who joined Edmontonin 2016, gives the waste system a "C" grade.

"We're not performing how we thought we were," Iveson said. "It's a shame it took this long to catch it, and that it fell behind."

The audit report shows operating costs have gone up 30 per cent in the past four years.

"Obviously, there's disillusionment and shock at these numbers," Paquette said.

In terms of processing solid waste and composting, "we've been sluggish to respond to changes," Coun. Michael Walters said.

"I think sluggish is a fair term," Cochrane agreed.

Unreliable measuring methods

Coun. Mike Nickel said he wants to see better value formoney, but also wondered why theaudit showed unreliable calculations for diversion rates and waste processing costs.

"We found the results to be unreliable for various reasons," the report states.

That includes errors in raw data and inaccurate methods of calculating performance.

"What am I supposed to tell the taxpayer?Where'd you get that $95 number from?" Nickel said.

"I'll have to get back to you on that," Jones said.

Thedeputy operating manager expects it will take two years to get the waste management system up to speed with the goal of having stable operations by 2019.

The operations branch is tasked with bringing a new waste strategy to the utilitycommittee on Feb. 23.

@natashariebe