Municipal Monitor - January/February 2008 - (Page 12)

objective banded together to plan the launch of the green bin program – the most significant waste diversion program since the introduction of the blue box in the 1980s. The goal? Successfully roll out the program to 76,000 households by midSeptember 2007, and achieve an overall waste diversion rate of 65 per cent. Tucked tightly together in northern York Region are the team players – Aurora, East Gwillimbury, Georgina, King, Newmarket and Whitchurch-Stouffville. The six municipalities vary by size and demographics. On the one hand, you have compact urban centres facing buildout like Newmarket; on the other are expansive rural townships with acreage separating neighbours, like King. Geographically, however, the partnerships made sense. The six municipalities are located in close proximity to each other, and even share municipal borders. Beyond that, current waste collection contracts were coming due and implementing a green bin program had been high on the priority list for years. The timing was perfect. In October 2006 – after months of preparation and evaluation – the municipalities awarded a joint contract for the collection of waste and recycling to Turtle Island Recycling Corporation. Previously, each munici- pality had contracted for these services separately. With the new waste contract, the six municipalities would each offer weekly green bin and recycling collection, biweekly garbage pickup, and additional yard waste collection days. In early 2006, six very different municipalities with one shared objective banded together to plan the launch of the green bin program The municipalities were immediately rewarded for their camaraderie. The level of waste collection service was increasing significantly, yet $11 million in combined savings is projected over the next 10 years. That’s $4 million in savings for Newmarket alone. “This initiative is truly a great example of how working together to achieve a common goal makes good business sense. In addition to saving taxpayers money, we also increased the level of service to our residents. It’s a win-win situation,” says Bob Shelton, Chief Administrative Officer for the Town of Newmarket. Clearly, collaboration can save bigtime coin. So, the question is: where do you go from here? You can part ways with a handshake and a good news story for the Town Treasurer, or you can continue to forge even more powerful alliances by sticking it out together. For Newmarket and its municipal buddies, the decision was clear. Continued collaboration was the way to go. Here’s our approach and what we learned along the way. Lesson 2: Get your communicators talking Once the contract was awarded, it quickly became apparent that a public education program was required for the new green bin program. And it’s a tough gig – people really care about garbage and changing the ingrained disposal habits of residents takes work. A lot of work. The committee of engineering staff leading the initiative knew they had to expand their team and call in some reinforcements. So they corralled their communicators and decided to launch the green bin education program together. The goal was to create a onesize-fits-all package of public education materials for 76,000 residents, and Newmarket was asked to lead. It took a solid 10 months to deliver the advertising, media relations and public education campaign, and it was never easy. Scope creep was a daily challenge, opinions differed significantly on wording and design, and a barrage of approvals was required for every media release, ad and piece of literature produced. While the challenge of collaborative communications planning is significant, the payoff was worth it. For the six municipalities, the collaborative green bin plan has saved significant staff time by developing one campaign for use by all municipalities, reduced printing costs, produced the most comprehensive campaign ever rolled January/February 2008 Green Bin coming soon Starting September 2007, your municipality will collect Green Bins placed at the curb every week to reduce the amount of garbage going to landﬁll. With the implementation of the Green Bin program, your municipality will also collect recycling weekly and pickup garbage every other week. It’s in the bin! Fruit & vegetable peels & scraps Meat & ﬁsh products Target green: 65% diversion from landﬁll If everyone uses the Green Bin every week, we can easily divert at least 65% of waste from landﬁll and help protect the environment. That’s why the bin is in! Shredded paper Dairy products Eggs & shells Breads, pizza & pasta Diapers & sanitary products Nuts & shells House plants with soil (NO yard waste) Animal waste, hair & pet fur, kitty litter & animal bedding Soiled papers, microwave popcorn bags, sugar & ﬂour bags, ice cream boxes, tissues, paper towels & napkins Plate scrapings Coﬀee grinds, ﬁlters & tea bags Green Bin collection starts September 2007 12 • municipal MONITOR

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Municipal Monitor - January/February 2008

Municipal Monitor - January/February 2008 Contents President’s Message: Recognizing Achievement Viewpoint: Increasing Voter Turnout Building Bridges The Municipal Buddy System Harnessing the Wind Water Under the Bridge Municipal Memos Index to Advertisers

Municipal Monitor - January/February 2008

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