Sarnia council has approved a new contract that will see residents putting their recycling to the curb in bins only, no bags, and maybe on a different day than garbage pickup.
The $7.7-million agreement from Halton Recycling [Emterra] for four years of collection, processing and marketing, was the only tender submitted.
Councillor Bev MacDougall wanted to wait to minimize any impact on residents.
"I have some interest in deferring this until our staff can speak with Marcotte about the fact that some of our residents are going to have to take garbage out on one day and recyclables out on another day," said MacDougall. "I think it would be prudent to wait until they can go talk to the other waste hauler, because if they can't accommodate a change in order to line these two up, then that means we're expecting homeowners to take their garbage out on two separate days in a row in some parts of the city."
But, Chief Administrative Officer Margaret Misek-Evans advised against the move.
"Essentially the issue here is that we don't know whether we're going to be in a lame duck situation by the end of July," said Misek-Evans. "The nomination period ends July 27. If council is in a lame duck period at that time, then we would essentially be deferring this to the next council."
She says that would cut in half the amount of time for the company to gear up to take over the contract by July 1, 2019.
The current contract has two suppliers, one for pickup and transport and another for processing and sale of the material to market. The shift to one contract is hoped to streamline and improve the material quality and financial return.
Banning the use of clear plastic bags as a container for curbside pickup is hoped to reduce contamination of the material.
According to a staff report, the material "is not acceptable anywhere," so it wouldn't be allowed next year, regardless of who was awarded the contract.