Figure 3.14 Solid Waste disposal sites 5 4 ❧ Y U K O N S T A T E O F T H E E N V I R O N M E N T R E P O R T 1999
Direct Costs: ■ Picking up Whitehorse residential garbage – $61.33 per tonne ■ Disposing of Whitehorse residential garbage – $60 per tonne ■ Operating rural waste sites – up to $5,000 per year with current practices (amount could increase under the new solid waste regulations) ■ Operating the Whitehorse <strong>Land</strong>fill – $528,242 (Average cost 1996 to 1998) ■ Developing a new ‘cell’ at the Whitehorse <strong>Land</strong>fill – $320,000 Indirect Costs: ■ Air pollution from burning waste in landfills ■ Harm to wildlife attracted to dumps, especially bears ■ Littering caused by paper and plastic wastes blowing away from landfills ■ Leaching from landfills may contaminate groundwater ■ Water runoff from landfills may pollute surface waters tonnes of waste 200,000 150,000 100,000 50,000 0 Tipping fees come to town After studying various approaches used to reduce the amount of solid waste dumped in landfills, the City of Whitehorse has decided to make garbage disposal more of a user-pay system. But instead of asking users to pay the full costs of operating the landfill, the city has opted for a 50/50 split on these costs. Half of the money for running the program will come from taxes, while the other half will come from tipping fees charged at the landfill. With tipping fees, people pay according to the amount of garbage that they dump at the landfill. Tipping fees provide a small financial incentive for households and businesses to reduce their waste as it is no longer cheaper to have everything hauled to the dump. Lower taxes for both businesses and residences will help to offset the new fees. In Whitehorse, the fee is $1 per visit for up to eight bags of garbage, and $4 per pickup truck load. Bigger loads will be weighed and assessed a charge of $15 per tonne. The tipping fees double if construction and demolition wastes are mixed in with household garbage. Residential Waste Commercial Waste 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 Figure 3.15 Data summary of Whitehorse landfill volume estimates Users from outside the City limits are charged the full disposal cost of $60 per tonne since they do not contribute to the landfill costs through taxes. There is no tipping fee for compostable or locally recyclable materials. Households with city garbage collection will have a monthly fee of $2 added to their bills to cover their share of landfill costs. Tipping fees are standard in most of the country and have been shown to reduce the amount of waste delivered to dumps by anywhere from 15 to 45 per cent. In southern Ontario, tipping fees range from $100 to $150 per tonne. It is estimated that the user-pay system, implemented in November 1999, will further reduce residential waste by 15 per cent and commercial waste by 30 per cent, extending the life of the landfill by six years and saving the city $1,466,750 over the next 30 years. All large waste loads will be weighed and assessed the appropriate tipping fee. Small, non-commercial loads will be directed through the transfer station to areas where people can properly sort and drop off household garbage, tires, wood waste, compost, and reusable and recyclable materials. The transfer station is slated to begin operations in July 2000. Proposed Solid Waste Regulations The <strong>Yukon</strong> government began developing Solid Waste Regulations in 1998. The draft regulations called for a ban on open burning at dumps and a requirement for permits to build and operate waste disposal sites. However, during the public review, municipalities were concerned about the high increases in operating costs and the proposed ban on open burning was dropped prior to the regulations being approved. The new regulations will establish modern standards for building and operating dumps and landfills in C H A P T E R 3 L A N D ❧ 5 5
Change language