CBRM to realize $5M benefit after outsourcing handling of recyclables, composting

Cape Breton Regional Municipality is planning to outsource the handling of recycling products and composting materials, but an official says residents will still be putting out blue bags and green bins.

"Everything goes to the curb the same as it always did before," CBRM public works director John Phalen told CBC's Information Morning Cape Breton. "We're just changing the way that we process it."

Council voted Tuesday to gradually close down the composting facility in Sydney, N.S., at the solid waste site on Sydney Port Access Road, and to sell its recycling sorting facility in nearby Point Edward as a going concern.

Phalen said both moves will save the municipality a total of about $2.5 million in annual operating costs, provide a cash injection from the sale of the recycling facility, which has been appraised at $890,000, and increase the commercial tax base once the recycling operation is sold.

The recycling facility alone was costing CBRM about $1 million annually to operate, he said, adding the municipality simply wasn't able to find a market for the products collected in blue bags.

In the meantime, a large company that already processes recyclables has expressed interest in purchasing the municipality's processing operation in Point Edward.

"It's best for us to get out of that business and turn it over to a larger firm that can do it and maybe with the larger volumes, it makes sense … but for us it didn't make sense," said Phalen.

With the province implementing extended producer responsibility — known as EPR — in January, manufacturers of packaging and other materials will be responsible for the cost of processing.

The government will collect fees from producers and hand them over to processors and municipalities that collect blue bags.

In addition to the savings, Phalen said CBRM expects to earn about $2.5 million for collecting blue bags, which he said will more than cover the cost.

Composting facility facing repairs

Closing the composting facility also makes sense, because it was facing about $1 million in repairs and upgrades and was not operating efficiently, Phalen said.

Residents living nearby and shoppers at nearby retail stores regularly complained about the smell and the final product was not an agricultural grade compost, he said.

The municipality regularly holds a free compost giveaway for residents and sends the rest to the landfill site in Guysborough County.

Phalen said CBRM is already paying for the trucking, but processing compostables just wasn't working.

"It looks better for us if we can send our compost off-island to have it processed at the landfill at Guysborough," he said. "They will do the processing for us."

Unanimous vote

Phalen said staff would not lose their jobs, but they would be reassigned to other duties.

Between the expected revenues from EPR and operational cost savings, CBRM's bottom line is improving and councillors were unanimously in favour when Phelan recommended the changes at Tuesday's committee of the whole meeting.

"You might just have to stand up there all day, because the longer you talk, the more money we're saving," said Coun. Glenn Paruch. "In all seriousness, this sounds like a great idea."

Coun. Dave MacKeigan was the first to point out that the savings and new revenue add up to about $5 million a year and said that was amazing.

Mayor Cecil Clarke agreed, but said there are already demands for more spending on roads, sidewalks and other projects.

"When we talk savings, it's already spoken for," he said. "It's just a question of what decision.

"I just don't want to curb your enthusiasm there Councillor MacKeigan, but just to note, I too have had my calculator out on this matter."