The City of Orillia has awarded its eight-year solid waste collection contract to Mid Ontario Disposal for an estimated annual contract value of $1.7 million.
Successful negotiations with Mid Ontario Disposal resulted in $2.5 million in cost savings from the originally proposed pricing, which came in at almost double the City’s approved budget for 2020.
“To kick off the 2020 budget process, Council was hit with a massive hike in our waste collection contract, which all of us around the Council table were not willing to accept. I would like to commend staff on successfully negotiating $2.5 million in savings over the life of the contract and coming to an agreement with Mid Ontario Disposal that will see their excellent service continue in an ever-evolving industry,” said Mayor Steve Clarke.
Significant increases to the waste collection contract pricing are attributed to:
- Poor recycling markets with the closure of China’s market to low value plastics in 2018;
- Driver shortages for collection services;
- The pending transition of the Blue Box Program across the province from 2023 to 2025 from municipal to Steward control (i.e., packaging producers), and the associated market risk.
City staff looked at a variety options to reduce the cost of the collection contract, including the option to collect garbage, green bin/yard waste and recycling in-house using City forces. After a thorough analysis of costs, timelines and risks, it was determined the best option was the renegotiated contract with Mid Ontario Disposal.
“Significant increases to waste collection contracts are being felt by municipalities across Ontario. Faced with poor recycling markets, labour shortages and the uncertainty of the future producer-pay approach to packaging, the issue of rising collection costs is not unique to Orillia,” said Greg Preston, Manager of Water and Waste Management. “As a City, we will continue to encourage and promote waste reduction, reuse of materials and proper recycling practices to ensure the best return is received from recycling markets.”
With the poor state of recycling markets, it becomes more important that residents follow the City’s recycling requirements when setting out their recycling boxes. Do not include non-acceptable items, such as wooden tangerine crates, flower pots, coat hangers or propane cylinders.
For more information on the City of Orillia’s Solid Waste Collection programs, visit orillia.ca/recyclingtips.
