Kamloops council asked to approve recycling contract — at an 84% annual increase in cost

By: Andrea Klassen  Kamloops This Week, News November 28, 2015
The company whose drawn-out strike left Kamloops without recycling pickup for months will likely hold onto the contract to process the city’s recyclables. But, it will cost the city almost double what is now being paid — and that increase will be passed on to homeowners, who now pay $33 per year for weekly collection. Council will be be asked Tuesday to approve a new two-year contract with Emterra Environmental, which includes an option to renew for three years. In a report, streets and environmental services manager Glen Farrow said the city will be paying far more for the same services under the new contract, about $845,000 per year compared to the current $460,000 to process 5,000 metric tonnes of recyclable material annually — an increase of 84 per cent. Farrow said covering the cost will likely lead to higher solid-waste fees for Kamloops residents. Exactly how much will be known later this month, when utility rates are set. Farrow said the city had two companies bid for the contract, but when scored on a number of criteria, including pricing and experience, Cascades Recovery Inc. received a lower score than Emterra. Farrow said the contract allows the city to cancel on short notice if it is able to sign onto Multi-Material B.C., a program that is supposed to cover much or all of the cost of curbside recycling services and uses different processing facilities. Ten unionized Emterra workers were on strike for eight weeks this past summer, citing low wages as their chief issue. Most earned $13 or less per hour Workers ratified a four-year deal in August, which will include wage increases of 22.5 per cent over the life of the agreement, giving those $13 an hour workers a wage of about $16 an hour by 2019. In 2008, the city signed a five-year deal with Emterra. In 2013, the contract was extended to the end of December of this year. The renewal brought few changes, other than the inclusion of soft and black plastics into the stream of acceptable recyclables. Under the current contract, Emterra is paid a flat fee for taking the recyclables, just under $80 per metric tonne, and also gets a cut of the sale of the materials, which it brokers on the city’s behalf.