Feb. 27

Toronto is moving ahead with a plan to charge residents based on the amount of trash they generate in an attempt to reach a 70 percent diversion goal by 2010.

The city plans to launch a volume-based solid waste rate structure July 1. Residents were given a choice of four different sizes of trash carts and three different sizes of recycling containers. Radio frequency identification tags and barcode technology will track recycling participation, as well as aid in the distribution and maintenance of the carts. The larger the trash cart, the more residents will pay.

Los Angeles-based Rehrig Pacific Co. will manufacture and distribute more than one million carts in what the company is calling the largest single phase cart roll-out program in North America.

Toronto´s volume-base rate structure will remove the city´s $183.5 million solid waste management budget from the property tax base. The new program will cost an additional $54 million to fund the diversion initiatives, for a total of $237.5 million single and multi-unit residential customers will pay directly. The city hopes it will give residents an incentive to recycle and reduce their waste generation.

The city has calculated the rate would increase 3.5 percent annually to offset inflation. Toronto´s 482,000 single-family households, which currently have curbside recycling service, each will pay $271 per year, which includes an additional $62 annually to fund the 70-percent diversion initiative. Toronto´s 526,000 multi-family residential dwellings, eight units or more, will pay $203 per year each, with $46 of that added to meet the diversion goal.

 

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