Saskatoon city council will vote on a new curbside recycling contract which could see user fees increase by two dollars per month.
The city’s contract with Loraas will close at the end of the year and it’s looking to follow up that contract.
However, services have become more expensive and could cost each single-family home up to $7.50 every month.
The current seven-year contract has users paying around $5.50.
The city committee on environment, utilities and corporate services said the reason for the proposed increase is because rates have gone up.
“But also, the marketability of different items internationally has gone down as well. So just what vendors were once getting for recyclable material has gone down,” committee chairperson Sarina Gersher said on Monday.
The committee is passing on the city’s recommendation that council approve the plan, which would maintain a similar level of service.
The city is negotiating terms with a potential service provider and it’s looking for another seven-year contract with a possible three-year extension.
There are a handful of items like black, plastic food containers and single-use coffee cups that aren’t easily recycled.
At times, the Loraas stockpiles those items until they can market them to another company.
The option put forward to council does not factor items made from these materials and they would not be accepted in the recycling program.
The City of Saskatoon has set the start date for curbside organic waste collection to start in 2023.
It has set a target of diverting 70 per cent of waste from the city’s landfill by that same year.