Waste fees in the city will be rising after council approved the final readings of changes to bylaws around waste management on Monday evening.

The major change is to the city’s organics collection program. The food service sector and multi-residential homes will be on the city’s collection system beginning in January 2019.

It will see a four-stage implementation program with all food sector businesses and multi-residential homes on the system by January 2020.

Along with changes outlined in a new waste management bylaw are higher fees effective Jan. 1, 2019 and improvements planned for the city’s compost facilities in budget amendments, which also passed third reading.

Among the fees that will change are monthly commercial rates for weekly compost collection. They will rise from $25 to $35 per cart and $150 to $250 for large bins.

At the landfill, tipping fees will climb from $101.50 per tonne to $104.50 per tonne to subsidize the processing of the compost.

Residential collection will increase by $1.60 each month from $11.05 to $12.65 per month.

“This addresses the tipping fees increase; new diversion programming to align with the education and enforcement of the commercial sector; and re- allotment of some of the organics processing subsidy from residential to the commercial sector to align the two programs,” Geoff Quinsey, the city’s manager of water and waste, said in a previous report to council about the changes.

He also pointed out that while rates will rise, there could be greater costs to deal with leachate and methane emissions if compost is not diverted.

A leachate collection and treatment system is estimated to cost approximately $3.3 million, along with the ongoing operational costs that would go with it.

Along with changes to the service and fees, improvements will be made to the city’s compost facility at the landfill. The improvements are estimated to cost $2.73.

A further $15,000 is expected to be needed to purchase the small green kitchen compost bins (that are provided to every residential home on the system) for multi-residential homes that will become part of the system.

Council was unanimous in approving the changes Monday evening.

Coun. Betty Irwin stressed the need to enforce the waste management bylaw so the city doesn’t find itself having to look for a new landfill.

She also pointed to the resolution the city will pose to the Association of Yukon Communities (AYC) at its annual general meeting next month in Dawson City.

That resolution would see the association call on the Yukon government to take on a territory-wide approach to dealing with waste.

Mayor Dan Curtis also highlighted the resolution. This is not the first time the same resolution has been put forward to the AYC, he pointed out.

Even though it’s been brought to the government numerous times, there has been “very, very little” done, the mayor said.

(Recent territorial changes in beverage container regulations and designated materials regulations have been recognized in a previous report on the resolution.)

Curtis commented he feels somewhat “exasperated by this file,” and noted that time is not “on our side” in dealing with the waste issue.