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Many Toronto high-rises are so unprepared for the pay-as-you-throw garbage levy coming July 1 that the city is considering a move to cut them some slack. The city’s General Manager of Solid Waste, Geoff Rathbone, said the city would be “reasonable and flexible,” with apartment and condo building owners.

That’s because recently compiled city data show that high-rises are throwing out a bigger volume of trash than first assumed by city officials. Larger volumes would mean a higher cost for building owners and their residents.

The levy’s new volume-based approach treats garbage collection like a utility (instead of being paid through property taxes), so the cost factor is built-in: the more trash tossed out, the higher the bill. The fees range from a minor rebate to an annual charge of $78 per unit if the garbage volume is three bags per unit every two weeks.

Actual data - the first volume-based information since the city hired one contractor last January to pick up garbage from all high rises - show many buildings are above the three-bag figure. That’s either because buildings fail to use compactors well or throw in light, bulky recyclables that add to the volume and the fees.

Without offering a reprieve, the city could face political criticism of a windfall “cash grab.” The city had expected to raise an extra $24-million from multi-residential buildings, but that number could be “substantially higher,” according to Rathbone, without allowances for buildings to improve compacting.

Even before this latest development, building owners have been trying to nail down the new cost of garbage collection. “When the first few bills come out in August and September, I am sure there will be shock and horror,” said Brad Butt, President of the Greater Toronto Apartment Association, which supports the new policy. “It will be for many buildings a significant impact.

”Meanwhile, some building owners complain that there are still too many loose ends. “There is the politics of this and there is the pragmatic implementation,” said Alan Krehm, a partner with his brother Jonathan in O’Shanter Development Corp., with 2,000 units. “The politics has gotten way ahead of the pragmatic implementation.” The Krehms estimate their bill at $175,000 a year, without more tenant recycling.

At the 58,500-unit Toronto Community Housing Corp., President Derek Ballantyne said the agency faces a potential hit of $5-million a year.

With garbage now a bottom-line issue, rental and condo buildings are stepping up efforts to add recycle options. “It’s a miracle,” said Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker, (Ward 38 Scarborough Centre) Chairman of the Public Works Committee. “Building owners who never bothered to recycle are suddenly now being converted and want to be super-recyclers.”

Cost Per Bag

The city’s target for each unit is two-thirds of a green garbage bag every two weeks. Here’s the yearly cost for a 100-unit high-rise:

• Two-thirds of a bag, the building earns a rebate of $7 a unit.
• One bag, the fee is $18 a unit.• Two bags, the fee is $48 a unit.
• Three bags, the fee is $78 per unit.
• For higher volumes, extra charges would apply.

This article appeared in the June/July 2008 issue of Canadian Apartment Magazine.