Heard from Councillor Fred Clipsham tonight (at the Cathedral Area Community Association annual general meeting) that the Public Works Committee approved the recommendations in the Waste Plan Regina final report. (Read more about what the committee was considering in this post.) That means curbside recycling is one step closer and only needs approval from council at their Monday meeting for the ball to start rolling on that.
Interestingly, the Public Works Committee voted to add to the staff recommendations that the Waste Plan’s Comprehensive Option be made an aspirational goal for our waste management system with an eye to achieve it by 2020. So, that means we’ll be getting the Enhanced Option (characterized primarily by curbside recycling) in the near term but we could see an even more impressive waste management system — one that includes bi-weekly collection of compostable kitchen waste, for instance — established 10 years from now.
UPDATE: Martin G over at Regina Urban Ecology has a very detailed breakdown of how the Public Works Committee came to the decision it did. Plus, he reports on comments made at the meeting by John Hopkins of the Chamber of Commerce. Apparently, the CoC wants a user-pay model for waste collection and not higher taxes. Wow. Who saw that coming?
Anyway, it’s a very educational read.