Annapolis County ready to go it alone on garbage collection

While a dispute between council for the Municipality of the County of Annapolis and the region's waste authority continues, arrangements are in place to ensure garbage collection carries on without disruption.

The two sides are in a disagreement about the way Valley Waste, an organization with seven municipal partners before Annapolis County indicated plans to pull out, has been operating.

There's also the matter of an outstanding bill for anywhere from $500,000 and $700,000, depending on point of view.

When Annapolis County held off on voting for a budget and paying its bill for services, Valley Waste said it would cut off collection services. Friday was deadline day.

No compost bins for now

But Warden Timothy Habinski said the municipality has directly contracted EFR Environmental, the company that's handled the region's waste collection for the last 20 years, to continue providing the service.

Because EFR was already doing the work for Valley Waste, Habinski said people shouldn't notice any change in service.

"We've taken steps to provide for every step of the transition for everything that has to be sorted," he said.

While services will continue, Habinski said right now they're asking residents not to use their green carts.

Valley Waste has indicated it wants the carts back and is trying to retrieve them. In response, council repealed a bylaw that allows Valley Waste employees to retrieve things from people's properties.

9,000 carts to collect

In the meantime, council is providing compostable bags for free to residents at all of its offices while it orders its own green carts.

"We're requesting that residents place their organics in compostable bags for the next garbage pickup and until further notice, and place it curbside on the day of regular pickup," said Habinski.

John Kinsella, chair of the Valley Waste board and a councillor for the Town of Annapolis Royal, said there's nothing punitive about the decision to collect the carts. They're an asset of Valley Waste, he said, adding it would take at least three weeks to collect the 9,000 carts.

"We're going to store them for now and the board will have a discussion about that at another time."

Bill remains unpaid

Meanwhile, Habinski said there is no update on the complaint filed with the RCMP and the municipality has tried again to pay its bill to Valley Waste, but payment was not accepted.

Kinsella said because that payment was addressed to a lawyer, came with conditions and there are other issues to be resolved before Annapolis County formally leaves Valley Waste, the money couldn't be accepted.

As they attempt to negotiate the transition, Habinski said there would likely be costs associated, but those will not trickle down to residents. He said ultimately the change could make the service more affordable.

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