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During deliberations on the City’s Solid Waste Master Plan at the June 18 meeting of Council’s Environment and Climate Change Committee, Councillor Shawn Menard gave a Direction to Staff calling for funding for a grant program partnering with community agencies to be included in staff's annual budgeting exercises for the SWMP.
While this Direction is an important step in addressing our petition calling for for greater support of community organizations involved in waste reduction and diversion, it doesn't go far enough. Please see below the direction and a brief analysis.
Direction to Staff (S. Menard):
Re: Solid Waste Master Plan Action Suite Funding Process
The Waste Avoidance, Reuse and Reduction Initiatives Action Suite recommends the development of a grant program as a way to incentivize waste avoidance, reduction and reuse, among a series of other actions including repair cafes and re-use events in partnership with community agencies. For the purposes of the Solid Waste Master Plan and Long Range Financial Plan, rolled-up budget estimates for the first 5 years have been presented. Staff have indicated that an estimated $350,000 per year has been included in the Solid Waste Long Range Financial Plan to fund initiatives in this action suite and that funding that aligns with the Council approved Long Range Financial Plan will be presented as part of the annual budget process.
Staff in Solid Waste Services are directed to work with Finance Services to develop a comprehensive process to present annual budget requests for each action suite supplemental to the budget tabling process every year. Staff are further directed as part of the development of a grant program to be presented to Council for approval, to include the grant funding as part of the multi-year budget. The first year to be approved by Council as part of the annual budget process and the final three years identified as forecasted to provide transparency to community agencies and partners wishing to apply for financial support.
Staff agreed to take on the above Direction.
While this direction addresses our petition’s requests, it falls short in several ways:
- The sum identified falls short of the $500,000 per year that we proposed
- The sum identified is the entirety of the funding in the SWMP for community initiatives in the action suite
- The Direction makes no mention of staffing, rent, and insurance costs, which are essential
We will continue monitoring the City’s action on reducing and diverting waste and advocating for increased investments in these critical aspects of waste management.