Downtown Solid Waste User Fee Study

Yes, most municipalities charge user fees for parts of their waste management systems. For example:

• The City of Toronto in Ontario’s only fully user fee supported waste management system. Residents and businesses pay a monthly bill based on the type and frequency of collection they choose.
• The City of Guelph charges user fees for many waste services, such as dropping off waste at the public drop-off facility or exchanging a cart.
• The County of Wellington has a User Pay Garbage Bag System where residents purchase yellow garbage bags to fund part of the garbage collection and disposal.

Some advantages of user fees include:

• Users choose how much they use the service and how much they pay, unlike tax which is automatically charged to everyone
• Incentives to minimize and divert waste are created
• Better reliability of revenue to support service delivery and long-term capital investment

Disadvantages include

• More complex and costly to administer than a tax
• New containers and collection methods are needed to ensure users only get charged for what they dispose of. The shared public space litter containers used by some in the Downtown now are not compatible. The communal underground containers approved and planned for during the Downtown Infrastructure Renewal will be able to measure usage by each user separately.

Council has only authorized downtown waste collection at the current budget until the end of 2025. Contingent on Council approval, new fees could apply as early as January 2026.

Where the fee will apply and how it should be set for different waste streams has not been decided yet. This will be a key topic discussed at the Working Group and then brought to the wider community for further input before making a recommendation to Council.

Who will coordinate downtown waste collection for businesses and institutions has not been decided yet either, this is another key topic to explore through the study. There may be a role for the City, for an organization representing downtown businesses and institutions, or it may be coordinated by individual properties, depending on community needs and preferences. Organizations interested in coordinating waste collection downtown are invited to connect with the Project Team to be included in the Working Group process using the information provided on the project’s Have Your Say.

Organizations interested in coordinating waste collection downtown are invited to connect with the Project Team to be included in the Working Group process using the information provided on the project’s Have Your Say.

• Watch for our project team visiting businesses door to door this winter.
• Please connect with the Project Team using the information provided on the project’s Have Your Say. We would be happy to schedule a time to talk with you.
• Click the Stay Informed button on the Have Your Say page to get updates about the project and feel free to contact the Project Team with questions or comments as we progress.
• Engage with City Council by contacting your Councillor or making a written or oral delegation at Committee of the Whole or City Council (expected for October 2025).

• Downtown residents are not expected to pay additional fees. Because the downtown contains a mix of residential, commercial, and institutional uses, the collection system that is put in place following this study will need to encompass all users, including residents. However, subject to Council approval, the user fees associated with the collection system is intended to serve downtown residents at least the same level of service as those outside the downtown supported by tax.
• This could be achieved, for example, by crediting each property owner a number of “free” (tax-supported) collections based on the number of residential units in the building and charging fees to the Property Owner only for additional use.

More information can be found on the archived Downtown Waste Project Have Your Say page and in the Downtown Renewal update presentation plus accompanying report Downtown Collection Area Update (2024-350). Please contact the Project Team using the information provided on the project’s Have Your Say page if you have additional questions.

• The user fee study was recommended to and approved by Council as a result of funding changes related to the Blue Box Transition, set on January 1, 2025 by the Ontario government for Guelph.
• However, this timing allows the City to have a user fee in place by the time the first underground communal containers are available for use on Wyndham Street North following the Downtown Infrastructure renewal construction.
• In turn, the underground container system supports the user fee system by its design, as each waste disposal can be linked to a specific user and billed back to them.

A free rider refers to someone who receives a service without paying for it themselves and thereby causing everyone else to pay more. Free riding is unfair to those paying for the system and undermines public trust and confidence. A key objective of the user fee study is to prevent free riders in order to have a fair, accountable, and transparent waste management system.