The trucking firm with the controversial job of hauling Toronto's garbage to a Michigan landfill is ending its contract by the end of next month, but the city says it will have a new contractor in place by then.
"We don't anticipate any interruption in service at all. It'll be seamless," said Richard Butts, the general manager of Toronto's solid-waste department.
However, the city expects the new deal to cost an additional $4.2-million a year. That would bring the total annual cost of sending Toronto's approximately one million tonnes of waste to Michigan to about $60-million, city officials say.
The current contractor, Wilson Logistics of Etobicoke, has long complained that rising fuel prices, new U.S. labour rules mandating breaks for truckers and security-related delays at the border have turned its deal with Toronto into a major money loser.
The company's 2000 contract, supposed to last for 20 years, is now set to end on March 31, after talks with the city to change the terms of the deal failed.
Mayor David Miller would say only that the company's exit comes "by negotiation." He would not say whether the city would be charging the firm a penalty for getting out of the contract.
"The issue with Wilson was simply a contractor that put in a low bid," Mr. Miller told reporters yesterday. "They weren't able to honour their obligations."
But the mayor said the city has an "agreement in principle" and is close to signing a new deal with Republic Services, the U.S. waste-management giant that runs the Carleton Farms landfill where Toronto dumps its trash.
That contract would hand Republic the responsibility of overseeing transportation of the waste as well, although the work would be subcontracted to a trucking firm.
Mr. Butts said the $4.2-million in new costs would amount to just 10 cents per household per week.
He said the city had tried to renegotiate its contract with Wilson to address the company's concerns about rising costs, but talks fell apart late last year.
However, since then, the city has engaged Republic Services in what Mr. Butts said was a "tendering process" to evaluate new bidders for the trucking business.
Included in the new deal will be more control and flexibility for the city as it makes contingency plans in case U.S. authorities shut down the border to Canadian garbage, Mr. Butts said. He refused to elaborate.
City waste officials also have plans to buy a $500,000 "tipper," a device that tips up the garbage trucks in order to dump out their contents. The machine would largely be kept on standby, but would allow the city to act more quickly if it had to dump garbage in Ontario instead of Michigan, Mr. Butts said.
Mr. Miller stressed that the city, with a citizen-led, environmental-assessment process, is looking for a "made-in-Canada" solution for its garbage.
Calls from The Globe and Mail to Republic Services and Wilson Logistics yesterday were not returned.
Jeff Gray