Residents voicing upset at Green Bin cost

by Sylene Argent, Local Journalism Initiative

Last week, County decision-makers were bombarded with concern from residents regarding the cost of the Green Bin Program, which is prompting residents to separate food/organic waste from garbage to preserve the longevity of the Regional Landfill.

  The regional program is administered by the County of Essex (which includes the seven local municipalities, with the mayor and deputy mayor of each on its 14-member Council) and the City of Windsor. The Essex Windsor Solid Waste Authority (EWSWA) manages the program and its contract. The organic waste is delivered to Seacliff Energy in Leamington.

  Discussion on the local program began in 2020, when the Province moved forward with its “Organics Provincial Policy Statement (OPPS),” which required some municipalities in Essex-Windsor to achieve specific reduction and recovery target rates by 2025.

  Locally, Windsor had to implement a curbside program to single family dwellings in an urban settlement area and achieve a target rate of reduction of 70%.

  Amherstburg, LaSalle, Leamington, and Tecumseh were required to offer a program to single family dwellings in an urban settlement area and to achieve a target waste rate of reduction of 50%.  

Essex, Kingsville, and Lakeshore were not required to enter such a program, but were told at the time they could be in the future as populations expand.

  A County Council decision in March of 2022 – with the previous Term of Council – requiring all Essex County municipalities to participate in a regional solution for the collection and processing of organic waste material from urban settlement areas, at a minimum, as part of the short-term processing contract commencing January 1, 2025 or immediately upon the expiration of a municipality’s existing waste collection contract, whichever is later.

  It was noted at one of the meetings the organics program would not pick-up at multi-residential buildings with seven or more units or at places, such as schools.

  Essex’s County Council reps at the time voted opposed.

  In June of 2024, County Council adopted a hybrid model for billing, and a majority vote expanded the program beyond urban areas to include rural as well.

  The program launched in October 2025 for phase 1 municipalities – Essex, Lakeshore, LaSalle, Tecumseh, and Windsor. The remainder will be this fall, due to garbage contracts ending.  

  The County of Essex later posted the estimated cost for the Green Bin program per household in 2026 alone, which was approved as part of EWSWA’s 2.1% tax increase for 2026: Essex $156.80, Lakeshore $159.03, LaSalle, $158.28, Tecumseh, $154.13. As part of phase two of the program with pick-up not starting until the fall, Leamington was charged $33.80, Kingsville $33.66, and Amherstburg $33.99.

  The first tax bill for the phase 1 municipalities will also include the program costs from October, November, and December of 2025.

  Deputy Mayor Rob Shepley is reiterating Essex was not provincially mandated to be part of the program, due to its population level. Essex was County-mandated.

  The City and EWSWA wanted to reduce their costs, so they brought the matter to the County, which the previous Term of County Council voted on, he said. That vote included requiring the three municipalities not provincially mandated to join the local program.

  By the County later expanding the program to add in the rural areas, the urban levy was reduced for the four provincially required municipalities, Shepley said.

  He added that while the program is population-based, he suspects it could be years before Essex would be required by the Province to join.

  He wasn’t saying there isn’t a reason to have the Green Bin Program. He believed the biggest way to support the landfill was to reduce organic waste from the biggest producer, the greenhouses, and that is being accomplished.

  During the December 17, 2025 meeting – where County Council approved a 2.1% increase for EWSWA’s 2026 tax rate – the Authority’s General Manager, Michelle Bishop, explained the cost was significantly increased for greenhouse materials, which led to a decrease in the volume of such material delivered.

  While that is a good news item for the landfill, as there was fewer organic material delivered that generates greenhouse gases and creates leachate, it does, however, have an impact on the bottom line of EWSWA’s revenue, Bishop explained then.

  “We’ve diverted the largest part of the organics going in the [landfill],” Shepley said.

  Essex Mayor Sherry Bondy noted the conversation about the program started well before she had a seat at the County table.

  “Historically, Essex’s reps shared concerns, because we weren’t one of the municipalities that were provincially legislated yet,” Bondy said.

  Being a small municipality with a large rural area, Essex wondered if the program was going to match the needs of its residents.

  “We are hearing feedback that residents aren’t happy, and I understand and sympathize with the community.”

  County Councillors, she added, can’t be on every municipal board and tell every board how to operate its business.

  There has been an on-going conversation, so she is sure residents knew about the program but not what the bill would work out to be.

  Bondy wasn’t sure County Councillors knew themselves how much the program was going to cost, which was another concern in Essex.

  A better job should have been done to engage residents. It’s okay to say a better job needs to be done, she added.

  “This is an issue, I think, historically we have had in the County. It’s been almost like – I would say – a hidden level of government. Residents are very aware of provincial, federal, and local, but the County kind of flies under the radar.

  “Engaging with the public is something they really haven’t had to do.”

  More thought should have been put into having the program extended to the rural areas. That is something she has spoken about several times in the past. Many in rural areas already compost.

  Going forward, she wants to know if the current contract is good from an energy perspective and from uptake.   

  At the January 21 County Council meeting, Bondy put a Notice of Motion forward, which will be discussed on February 4, that will ask County Council to direct administration to request EWSWA provide available stats to date on the program’s effectiveness in the seven local municipalities, and on data on the effectiveness in urban and rural areas She would also like details of the public education campaign to date and planned educational campaigns for the future, and details of the cost of the program to the seven local municipalities.     

  That is because County Council is responsible for setting service levels for the program, and does not have enough information on the program’s effectiveness in the County, or rural areas versus urban areas.   

  “I know that we can’t easily revisit it. I just want to make sure that we are collecting as much data as we can going forward.”

  More dialogue should have been done with residents, because now she fears many won’t utilize the program at all out of frustration.

  “I take my fair share of blame for not getting ahead of it more,” Bondy said.

  Both Shepley and Bondy noted that after a County Council vote – even if in opposition, they have to respect the decision.

  That was reiterated during a special meeting that went over the County Council Code of Conduct, Governance, Roles, and Responsibilities on December 17.

  John Pappas, Associate at Aird & Berlis LLP, provided the review of the Council Code of Conduct, which was enacted in November of 2023.

  At the meeting, Pappas said a Councillor can indicate why a Council did or did not support a decision, and to some extent their own views.

  “When you start to get into the territory of ‘Council was wrong,’ ‘it was the dumbest decision Council ever made’… that’s when you then start to tread on contraventions of the Code,” Pappas told members of County Council.

  He also noted that the head of Council – the Mayor or Warden – is the only member with the authority to communicate about the decisions of Council. All members of Council have an ethical obligation to fairly and accurately communicate the decisions of Council and respect Council’s decision-making process, even if they disagree, Pappas relayed.  

    Here’s a timeline of the program, according to Essex Free Press archives:

• EWSWA Board approved the development of a Regional Food and Organic Waste Management Plan in October of 2020. The following month, the EWSWA Board approved an Oversight Committee and Working Group, consisting of EWSWA, City of Windsor, and County of Essex representation.

• In December 2020, EWSWA Board approved a consultant (GHD Limited) for the budget and project charter.

• On June 1, 2021, the EWSWA Board reviewed the findings of the Plan, directed EWSWA Administration to conduct a third-party review of the GHD Report. Tetra Tech Canada Inc. was retained following a competitive bidding process. Then, in September and October, Tetra Tech recommended that all eight local communities be part of a regional solution and that each municipality be approached about the matter.

• At the October 20, 2021 County Council meeting, the report “Essex-Windsor Solid Waste Authority (EWSWA)-Regional Food and Organics Waste Management Project” was received, and it further approved the EWSWA recommendation to present to – and obtain comments from – all of the County Municipalities relating to desire to participate as part of a regional approach to the Food and Organics Waste Management.

•At a meeting with Essex Council in November of 2021, Council only received a presentation from EWSWA General Manager Bishop. Here she explained who was mandated and at what rate of reduction.

  At this time, it was estimated for the Town of Essex for composting at the Regional Landfill was $305,462. Anaerobic digestion at the Landfill would be $443,295 in 2025. Anaerobic digestion at the Windsor Biosolid Processing Facility would be $630,029 that first year. The chart showed the costs increasing per year. It was hard to determine costs at the time not know what municipalities would participate, Bishop said then.

  Bishop added Tetra Tech was also asked to review the EWSWA’s 15-year forecast and estimate the cost of anaerobic digestion at the landfill, assuming a regional solution. In 2025, she said, there is an estimated increase of the EWSWA’s budget of around $7.5 million.

• In March of 2022, the previous Term of County Council advised EWSWA all Essex County municipalities will participate in a regional solution for the collection and processing of organic waste material from urban settlement areas, at a minimum, as part of the short-term processing contract commencing January 1, 2025 or immediately upon the expiration of a municipality’s existing waste collection contract.

  Essex’s reps at County Council at the time, Councillor Steve Bjorkman and Mayor Richard Meloche, were opposed.

  It was noted at this meeting the responses from the county municipalities for the regional program. Amherstburg, Lakeshore, LaSalle, Leamington, and Tecumseh had stated their support for a regional approach to food and organics waste management.

  Further, the Town of Essex resolution did not indicate support for the initiative, just received the presentation provided on the matter. Kingsville had not discussed that matter yet.

  At this meeting, Mayor Meloche said Essex is not in a position to pay for the amount of funds it was told it would have to pay. It would rather pay it out, and put money away each year until the service is required. He believed the direction to come from Essex Council will be that it will wait and not be a part of it at the beginning.

• In June of 2022, the previous Term of Essex Council spoke about the organics program at a Committee of the Whole meeting. At the time, Sherry Bondy – who was a Councillor – said a green bin/organics program, or municipal program that encourages composting, would be more beneficial than the organics program being discussed at the County-level that would entail a large truck driving down a rural road, where homes may be composting already.

• Soon after, EWSWA Board approved the RFP for the provision of processing of source separated organic waste to Seacliff Energy of Leamington when the Green Bin Program is rolled out, starting in 2025, Bishop added. This was for a period of five-years, with an option for extension.

• April 2024, EWSWA awarded the contract for the curbside collection of source separated organics in urban settlement areas for a seven-year period to Miller Waste Systems Inc.

• In June of 2024, County Council adopted a hybrid model for billing, and the decision was made to expand the program beyond urban areas to include rural as well.

The hybrid model combined the County levy-based funding model with a user-fee methodology for the expenses associated with the regional food and organic waste green bin program. This will appear as an Essex County levy on the municipal tax bills of residents who receive the service.

  It was noted the estimated cost in year one for organic pick-up for urban settle areas was $5,987,280, and an additional $2,007,720 for rural. That did not include any potential discount offered by Miller Waste for the inclusion of rural households at program commencement. County Administration recommended adding the rural component.

  Essex’s Bondy and Shepley voted against including rural areas. The vote passed 8-6.

  At this time, it was discovered the organics will be picked-up at single-family homes and multi-residences with six-units or less. It will be looked at to be expanded at some point, including the potential at schools.

• In December 2024, County Council approved the 2025 Essex-Windsor Solid Waste Authority Green Bin Program budget as part of EWSWA’s, representing a total cost of $3,743,400, of which $1,379,850 will be allocated to the County of Essex and $2,363,550 to the City of Windsor.

  The assessment is broken down into three parts: the cost to process each tonne of material through the contract with Seacliff Energy; the five-year repayment term for the cost for the purchase and delivery of the Green Bin Program 120L wheeled cart with locking mechanism and kitchen catcher at a cost of around $76 each; and the cost paid to the contractor to collect the material, provide contract supervision, customer service, and the capital and operating cost to consolidate and transfer the material.

• In February of 2025, EWSWA outlined the Green Bin roll-out plan.

• The Green Bin and kitchen catcher starter kits started to be delivered in July, beginning with the municipalities that will participate that fall.

•EWSWA began the weekly residential Green Bin collection program in Essex, Lakeshore, LaSalle, Tecumseh, and the City of Windsor starting the week of October 21, 2025.

• The Green Bin program will start in Amherstburg, Kingsville, and Leamington in the fall of 2026 to better align with their garbage contracts.

• At the December 17 meeting, County of Essex approved a 2.1% increase for the Essex-Windsor Solid Waste Authority’s (EWSWA) 2026 tax rate.

  This included discussion on the organics program. Phase 1 residents will see the first charge on their tax bill issued in June, Melissa Ryan, Director of Financial Services/Treasurer, said. That will cover around 15-months of service.

  The fee will appear as a separate line item labeled “CTY Bin.” Only households who receive the service are charged. It includes fixed program costs and tonnage costs. Participation is mandatory for residential and multi-residential dwellings under six-units.

  County Council was also presented the 2026 Green Bin Program funding model for the City of Windsor and County of Essex at full cost recovery. This cost equates to $19,878,000 and is comprised of two components.

  The first is $135 per-tonne fee assessed on Green Bin material delivered for processing totalling $1,807,000 ($671,800 assessed to the County of Essex and $1,135,200 assessed to the City of Windsor) delivered to Seacliff Energy. It also includes a fixed cost assessed based on the number of households receiving collection per household totalling $18,071,000 ($7,104,410 assessed to the County of Essex and $10,966,590 to the City of Windsor).