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14 6n6msunffiburie yorks garbage challenge thursday jan 31 2002 by jeff mitchell staff writer diverting trash from land fill will mean significant cost- increases for york region municipalities over the next few years that concerns municipal leaders who wrestle annual ly with tax hikes but local environmentalists and ratepayers see it as the cost of being environmentally responsible ifs time we invest and spend more x money on teaching people about com posting and recycling said nadia magarelli president of the weston downs ratepayers association in woodbridge for us its important now instead of spending money to send waste to landfills to look at better technologies the pursuit of better tech nology and a goal of diverting as much as half of the regions trash away from landfill through recycling and composting are behind the expected cost increases the conversion to so- called threestream waste collection is intended 10 address the closure at the end of this year of the keele valley landfill site in vaughan and the regions 50 per cent diversion goal the region plans to spend 35 million on a waste trans fer plant near newmarket that will sort recyclables and compostable material from waste collected in the north ern municipalities a similar facility will be built in the southern municipalities those new plants and their operating costs will result in a higher price tag for waste management lit is expected more than 137 million will be required to run the waste manage ment system by 2004 nearly 4 million more than was budgeted in 2002 the financial burden is expected to climb to more than 97 million in 2004 a whopping increase over the 54 million the region will collect from the lowertier governments in 2003 the municipalities will pay 16 million to the region this year and millions more to toronto for costs associated with dumping waste at keele valley newmarket mayor tom taylor is shocked by that cost this year isnt too bad but next year and the year after that its going to bury us mr taylor said when i look at an increase of 1 million to almost 10 million over two years and its coming from the municipalities that does nt let me sleep too well the figures are specula tive right now but mr taylor worries his towns waste management budget expected to cost about 27 w e can h el pyou steer ear of the winter blues million this year will sky rocket municipalities pay private contractors for garbage pickup in addition to regional charges for waste disposal how do you offset it thats a good question said mr taylor he insists the province which has set guide lines for increased diversion rates should increase funding for municipal waste man agement another potential solution is user pay said b r e n t kopperson a sutton resident and executive director of the green communities association affiliate in york region is the cost justified i think absolutely the cost is justified mr kopperson said how its borne is another matter he points to georginas buckabag system which requires residents to affix a 1 sticker to each bag of garbage they place by the curb the benefits are tworfold he asserts the system raises significant revenues which offset municipal waste man agement costs more than bill bell user best way to go richmond hill 600000 a year according to the town and raise recy cling awareness among resi dents georgina has the highest diversion rate among munic ipalities in the region direct ing 375 per cent of its waste from landfill if it works in georgina it can work elsewhere in the region mr kopp- erson said i think its another way of get ting people to take a look at how waste is managed he said i would cer tainly recom mend users take on some responsibility for the waste they put into the system richmond hill mayor bill bell agrees that userpay sys tems demand better waste management in households where the process should begin i think more of the idea now than i did two years ago he said but any move to a user- pay schedule would have to be coordinated regionwide to prevent residents from disposing of their trash in a neighbouring municipality see trash page 15 pay system is the says mayor of advertorial limitedtlmebhv participating 6m dealerships may set indmdiiaipricesjlof includes up tb5lo t s u j 1 t i 5v0fferarailabfe to retail customers only see se v u vy- v an official mar of tfioprb for a study in contrasts we can find no better model than pur readers choice award winner dr morley lem ever youthful interested and enthusiastic he is one of the very f irsj professionals to set up a dental practice in an old architecturally attractive century home the house is located at 63 main street north the old main street of markham village he designed the interior to reflect the cozy comfortable warm period ambiance embodied in the magical words theres rid place like home contrasting with the old fashioned century surroundings is a very much today comprehensive dental practice intriguingly spiced with tomorrows millennium concepts of pain control and pain management especially for the very debilitating difficult and baffling condition of chronic head pain headache face pain dry mouth jaw pain tic douloureux bells palsy and tooth pain without infection as if that isnt i quite enough active contrast dr lem is a member of the mayors main street committee he also sits as chairman of the board of management of the markham village bi readers choice award 2001 dr lem can be reached at 9052940761