When the Western Regional Service Board took over the Wild Cove landfill in January it upped the cost it charges to dump waste at the site from nearly $15 per tonne to $48.73 per tonne.
“Mathematically, that’s 325 per cent,” said Ethan Murphy, operations manager of Murphy Brothers, one of the major haulers of waste in the region.
The company is now seeing that increase in the bills it receives from the board and is in turn passing the cost on to its customers.
The result, Murphy said, is the cost of their service is considerably higher.
He said he has no idea where the board came up with the numbers and expects it’s aimed at supporting what will be put in place at the site come 2016.
But right now, he said “nothing has changed,” and people are left thinking they’re charging a lot more money, but not doing anything different.
Murphy said that idea is not a correct one.
“It’s going to be a different site, they’re just not there yet.”
He said it’s that lack of change and information that’s frustrating customers.
“Nobody has sat down and said, ‘This is what the site is going to be and this is why the tipping fee is set to such a rate.’”
Murphy said many customers are now scrambling to try and figure out how they can reduce their costs, which he said may involve Murphy Brothers offering a different service or making changes to its collections.
One way customers could reduce their costs was if there was a composting service available.
That will likely be part of the waste management plan after 2016, but Alex Lockyer would like to see it in place now.
Lockyer is the owner of Harbour Grounds on Humber Road. He had been paying Murphy Brothers about $100 a month for garbage disposal and that has now increased to $180 a month.
Lockyer is one of the customers Murphy Brothers is working with to help reduce costs. The plan now is to switch from a weekly tipping to a bi-weekly one.
Lockyer said he doesn’t have an issue with Murphy Brothers and understands the extra cost comes from the tipping fees set by the regional service board.
But he does have an issue with the lack of alternatives to dumping the garbage generated by his coffee shop.
“In order for someone like me to cut down on my waste, I need to be able to recycle and compost and none of those things are in effect right now,” said Lockyer.
He said the tipping fee has more than tripled, with no recycling initiative in place whatsoever and no composting site identified.
“The onus is really on this board to put something in place right away so that we’re getting something for our money,” said Lockyer.
He said businesses already pay enough through business taxes, property taxes and water and sewer levies. And, unlike residents, businesses also have to pay an extra cost for garbage disposal.
“I want to see something back for what we’re paying,” said Lockyer.
Meanwhile, the City of Corner Brook declined an interview on the matter and instead provided this emailed statement: “The City of Corner Brook does not set the rates or operate the Wild Cove landfill. The responsibility lies with the Waste Management Board and the Minister of Municipal Affairs. At this point in time, we do not even have representatives on the board.”
