Re - waste fee in SF

Hanne and Dennis Saunders | Jan 11, 2017

We are concerned and puzzled to learn that the Township of South Frontenac is trying to eliminate the current bag tag system, also known as pay as you throw (PAYT), and lump the waste disposal fee into property taxes.

PAYT  is based on two guiding principles: 1- the polluter pays, and 2- the shared responsibility concept.
In general, PAYT allows some or all of the cost of waste management to be removed from property tax bills. Waste management services can then be treated like other utilities such as water or electricity. It is accepted that you pay according to your level of consumption. The more you use, the more you pay. There is incentive to reduce consumption. With PAYT, the incentive is to create less garbage, and coincidentally, to recycle more.

According to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, PAYT is becoming more common across Canada as municipalities strive to achieve higher waste diversion rates. It provides an economic incentive to reduce waste. The Canadian average for waste diversion in 2006 was 22%. Many communities are aiming for 50% diversion from landfills. Some have achieved it. South Frontenac seems to want to buck that trend. The Municipality of Trent Lakes, on the other hand, is going to a PAYT model as of April 1 this year.

Studies have shown that, as a rule, lower income families tend to produce less garbage, and higher income families tend to produce more. The PAYT approach is fairer than simply increasing property taxes for  everybody. The PAYT approach also means that people who own undeveloped property would not be paying tax for garbage they don't create.

There are many reasons to stay with the PAYT model. There are economic, environmental and social benefits. We don't need more landfill sites, we need fewer. Creating new landfill sites is expensive, as is transportation to ever more distant landfills. Recycling and composting create jobs. They are also better for the environment. Reduced landfill usage improves the quality of life in nearby communities, and encourages environmentally sustainable behaviour.

Other models of PAYT exist. Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater. If the system needs tweaking, then tweak it. Fine tune it. Don't abandon it. There are plenty of reasons that other municipalities, not just in Canada but worldwide, are adopting PAYT.