Jordan Banman removes unwanted items from paper being recycled at the Cosmo Industries sorting facility in Saskatoon, SK on December 21, 2010. Cosmo Industries provides meaningful vocational activities for people with mental and physical disabilities in Saskatoon and depending on how city run curb side recycling is picked up it could jeopardize those activities.David Stobbe for The Globe and Mail
It has become a bitter debate, dividing a city and its council while pitting environmentalists, disability rights activists and penny-pinchers against one another. The battle has dragged on for months, and there's no end in sight.
It's much ado about recycling in Saskatoon.
Saskatchewan's biggest city is considering adopting a curbside recycling program after dragging its feet for years while every other major Canadian city implemented or announced plans for one. Saskatoon residents are expected to drop off their recycling at depots, but only a fraction do.
A curbside program could triple the amount of paper recycled, and bring in other material, some say. But three issues are holding up the debate.
One is a small group of people with cognitive disabilities who earn a tiny stipend for sorting the 7,200 tonnes paper that is dropped off. Cosmopolitan Industries, a charity that employs the disabled people (but refuses to say how many, or at what wage), complained loudly that any change could leave the vulnerable out of work.
"We're looking for a way to include those with disabilities, rather than excluding them," said Cosmopolitan executive director Peter Gerrard. In this case, that means not bringing in a curbside program, which could also collect glass and make sorting paper dangerous for people with severe cognitive disabilities.
The second sticking point is simply cost. The city has only rough cost estimates of between $7 and $11 a month for each household, and the mayor is pledging to get more precise numbers from the industry.
In interviews, councillors said they fear ending up with a system like the one implemented in Alberta.
"We don't want to get caught like Edmonton at $40 a month," veteran councillor Myles Heidt said. (Edmonton's total monthly waste cost is actually $32 per house, and includes garbage and programs for toxic waste and bio-fuels.)
Edmonton's monthly curbside recycling cost is about $7.35 per home, while Calgary's is $8.40 (though both cities calculate the total slightly differently). Even at that rate, Saskatoon's mayor refuses to add such a cost to his residents' tax burden.
"Some people can't, quite frankly, pay any more," Mayor Donald Atchison said in an interview. "We should find out what it is going to cost to operate a recycling program" before making a decision, he said.
The final roadblock is that the booming city retains much of its rural roots - councillors said their constituents "don't want to be told what to do" and forced to pay into a recycling program.
A decision on whether to keep the status quo, expand drop-off programs, or bring in curbside pickup was to have been made by November, but the debate has taken more time than expected. The mayor hopes for a decision by summertime.
Step 1 is striking a deal with Cosmopolitan, known as "Cosmo," which has been evasive about details of its program and how many people it actually employs to handle city material. One councillor says it is between four and eight, hardly enough to derail a city-wide recycling program.
The province pays the organization to provide work to about 400 cognitively disabled people. Fewer than half sort paper, Mr. Gerrard said. The charity is exempt from laws requiring it to pay minimum wage. Total wages are about $500,000 annually (an average of $1,250 annually per worker), but the program is designed to give the people a place in the community.
"Those with no place else to go come to Cosmo," Mr. Gerrard said. "It's the happiest work force you've ever had."
Some are skeptical about the value of the charity, but wary of being seen as opposing disability rights. They've called for specifics on worker conditions and participation. "Those are questions that need to be addressed," said Councillor Pat Lorje, a former provincial MLA. Any solution will likely guarantee a level of employment for the four to eight workers, so councillors hope Cosmo's complaints become a moot point.
In the meantime, Saskatoon will remain Canada's lone wolf of recycling for months to come.
"Saskatoon is the leader in so many different things," Ms. Lorje says. "And yet for some reason the recycling issue has eluded us so far."