Langley City residents throw out about two million kilograms of garbage each year.

The figures were presented to City council at its July 23 meeting (after press time) as it decides whether to extend its garbage and recycling contract with Emterra Environmental for two more years, beyond its December 2012 expiration.

Staff is recommending garbage pick-up every two weeks for residents with recycling and green waste weekly.

Recycling amounts seem to have declined in recent years. The amount in 2009 was 1,768,315 kilograms recycled while that figure dropped to 1.54 million in 2010 and 1.41 million in 2011.

The amount of green waste created by residents seems to be more consistent (958,477 kg in 2009, 1.08 million in 2010, and 1.12 million in 2011.

Staff have suggested various ways to keep cost under control.

“No change in services and does not include household organics collection. Providing additional organics collection has the potential to reduce costs as waste will move from the garbage stream at $121/tonne to the organics stream at $53/tonne,” the staff report said.

Option two is the same level of service but no green waste collection December through April, when amounts are lowest.

That greenwaste would end up in the regular garbage which could increase City costs for tipping fees but save money on fewer trucks having to go out during those months.

Option three is the same as option one but adds mattress collection and disposal to Large Item Pick-Up (LIPU) service. No cost implications were included in the staff report but they did provide information on neighbouring communities.

“The City of Surrey experienced a sharp increase in illegal dumping of mattresses so it has reversed its position and now accepts mattresses through the LIPU program. The Township of Langley does not accept mattresses through the LIPU program and has no plans to include it,” staff reported.

Option four includes the same level of service as option one, adding household organics to weekly green waste collection.

“Including the household organics would be a value added service that the City is required to provide as part of the Integrated Solid Waste and Resource Management Plan,” according to the report. “It is expected that there will be a reduction in tipping fee costs due to the differential in garbage tipping fees ($121/tonne) and green waste ($53/tonne). The tipping fee savings are an estimate only and are dependent on the quantity of material diverted from the garbage stream. Moving household organics into the green waste will require a communications program.”

Option 5 moves the City to the same style of pick-up that Surrey has – bi-weekly garbage, bi-weekly recycling and weekly green waste collection with household organics included.

The City would save on tipping fees because greenwaste is charged $53 per tonne while regular garbage, which currently includes household green waste, costs $121 per tonne.

Option six is for pickup to be every two weeks for garage, recycling and greenwaste (including household green waste). It comes with an estimated $11,000 cost savings.

“The City’s disposal costs could remain at 2011 levels if we can achieve a 20 per cent diversion of household organics from garbage to green waste,” the staff report said. “The net result is that for every one per cent point increase in diversion from garbage to green waste, the tipping fees for the City decrease approximately $1,350.”

The complete staff report is on the City website.