GORE BAY – The Town of Gore Bay is going to investigate what the costs of having garbage pick-up in town would be, as well as other alternatives to get rid of its waste, comparing it to the costs it is paying towards its current share of having garbage hauled from the transfer station.
“We’re going to cost out what it would cost to have garbage pick-up in town. If it’s a good price then we will look at this,” said Gore Bay Mayor Dan Osborne after a Gore Bay council meeting last week. The concern of Gore Bay council is that at the present time the town is paying a higher cost of being part of the transfer station than is the case for the municipality of Gordon/Barrie Island, but the number of users and the amount of garbage that is accumulated by residents in town is not as large as is the case for Gordon/Barrie Island.
“The new bag system numbers show that the amount of garbage (being taken to the transfer station) between Gore Bay and Gordon/Barrie Island is very close and the seasonal residents there haven’t arrived as of yet, so there will be more of a difference,” said Mayor Osborne. “The amount of waste (from Gordon/Barrie Island) residents bringing to the transfer station is about the same, or a little more (than Gore Bay), without seasonal residents.”
Gore Bay council discussed the issue as part of its meeting last week. It was pointed out that the latest data outlined at the transfer station committee meeting in April provides the identification of users of the transfer station. The data has been collected and compiled from September 29, 2020 to February 17, 2021. There was high use in the fall and down in the winter months, which is expected. A second slide exhibited a comparison between the usage of Gore Bay transfer station users and Gordon/Barrie Island users. The results were Gore Bay at 54.39 percent and Gordon/Barrie Island at 45.61 percent.
At the committee meeting Gordon/Barrie Island committee members submitted a draft policy for the committee to consider regarding data collection and monitoring the transfer station site’s used. A representative on the committee voiced concern with the volume of items brought into the site and how to differentiate between seasonal and permanent residents. Gore Bay members expressed that the draft proposed is not a fair set up and that so far evidence is close to a 50/50 split of users. Gordon wants to wait for a year’s worth of data before making any changes to the agreement. Municipal staff were directed to have those who collect garbage from numerous residents supply a list of all the users who are disposing of refuse for each visit to the transfer station.
The committee decided that garbage collectors begin recording the volume of garbage and identify which municipality the users are from. Another motion was passed that effective May 1, 2021, staff are directed to collect volume data of registered users to the transfer station site. The committee also would like to consider a tender for garbage pick-up between any municipality that wishes to partner on a pick-up program for waste.
At the Gore Bay council meeting last week, Councillor Jack Clark said, “I would encourage the committee to hasten the review. The number of users (in the two municipalities) is close to 50/50 but there are more users, with seasonal residents from Gordon/Barrie Island.” He also said the contract should be redone.
Councillor Kevin Woestenenk said, “I know I’ve had people ask me why we pay so much in costs to the transfer station. I think we need to push for garbage pickup in the community (Gore Bay).”
Council directed staff to get costs on garbage pick-up in town, and other alternatives it can look at to consider.
