RMWB Landfill Scale House. Image via rmwb.ca
FORT MCMURRAY — Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo residents will see lower solid waste utility rates and waived residential landfill fees after council approved changes intended to pass along savings from Alberta’s Extended Producer Responsibility program.
Council approved amendments to the Fees, Rates and Charges Bylaw on Oct. 27.
Effective immediately, residential landfill disposal fees are waived for up to 200 kilograms of household waste per day, per residence, at the Regional Landfill.
The change also applies to items that previously carried a fee, including refrigerators, freezers and mattresses, as well as material from the annual Big Bin and Heavy Item Pickup events.
Standard landfill fees will continue to apply to residential loads exceeding 200 kilograms and to commercial waste.
Council also reduced the monthly Solid Waste Services utility rate to $25 per dwelling for most residential households.
In Fort McMurray, the rate drops from $43 per month, saving households $18 monthly or $216 per year.
In Anzac, Gregoire Lake Estates, Saprae Creek Estates and Draper, the rate falls from $41.92 to $25, a monthly savings of $16.92 or about $203 annually.
Mayor Sandy Bowman said the municipality wants to pass along savings when its own costs decline.
“If there are reduced costs to us as a local government, we believe in making every effort to pass on those savings to community members,” Bowman said.
The lower rates follow the introduction of Alberta’s Extended Producer Responsibility program.
Under the program, companies that produce and sell packaging and paper products are now responsible for funding and managing residential recycling, a responsibility previously handled by the municipality.
The RMWB expects the change to reduce its operating costs by about $3.3 million annually.
The municipality says those savings are being passed directly to households that previously paid for municipal curbside recycling.
The new utility rate took effect Oct. 27 and will be applied automatically.
Residents may see both the old and new rates during the transition period on October and November bills, with the $25 rate applying to the full billing period beginning in December.
Monthly rates in Janvier, Conklin, Fort Chipewyan and Fort McKay will remain unchanged at $21.03 per dwelling.
Those communities did not previously receive municipal curbside recycling, meaning the shift to the EPR program does not produce the same cost savings there.
The municipality says recycling services in those communities are being expanded through the EPR program, while residential garbage collection will continue under the existing bagged collection model.
Garbage collection schedules are not changing.
Comments