A new waste collection contract will increase fees for 91原创 City residents from $271 to $309 a year.

Council approved a seven-year-contract with Emterra at their Monday, Oct. 7 meeting, signalling at the same time an in-house collection system could be in the works, where City staff and vehicles would handle garbage pickup.

A 10-year garbage and organics collection contract with Emterra was to expire at the end of the year.

Under the new contract, single family households will receive two 240 litre carts for garbage and organics while townhouses will each receive two 120 litre carts that will be emptied by "semi-automated" collection vehicles.

To meet the bid requirements, Emterra advised vehicles on residential collection routes will run on CNG while other vehicles will be powered by biodiesel or CNG. 

It was opposed by Councillor Delaney Mack, who expressed concern that the financial impact of adding those new features, compared to continuing on as before, wasn't clear.

"I don鈥漷 feel like we have enough information to support this," Mack said.

Support for an in-house collection system was evident Monday, with Coun. Rosemary Wallace calling it "something that we could work towards in the future."

Coun. Paul Albrecht said "it's a service that we should bring in-house.鈥�

Mayor Nathan Pachal agreed.

鈥淚 do believe it would be better in-house,鈥� with City staff and vehicles handling collection, Pachal said, predicting it would allow the municipality to provide a better quality of service and better control costs.

But while the City has purchased land and does have plans for an operations centre that will accommodate an in-house system, 鈥渨e simply don鈥檛 have the space and the facility to do it at this time," the mayor advised.

As for the rate increase, Albrecht said the city has "been getting a pretty good deal" over the last few years under the old contract, but "there鈥檚 no way we could have the same garbage collection at the same price." 

Mayor Nathan Pachal said the increase to $309 "is a large increase, and I acknowledge that. I'm not going to shy away from that.鈥�

However, even with the increase, the 91原创 City rate remains 鈥渙ne of the lowest in Metro Vancouver,鈥� Pachal went on to say, with 91原创 City's new garbage/organics collection fee lower than neighbouring 91原创 Township ($372) and Surrey ($337).