Sunnyhill Housing Co-operative Ltd.
787 Third Street NW
Calgary, Alberta T2N 1P1
403-270-8405

Notice of General Meeting 

Wednesday, November 28, 2018
7:00pm – 8:00pm
Calgary Curling Club
 2nd floor, blue room
 720 3 Street NW, Calgary, AB

Proposed Agenda

1.	Call to order
2.	Opening remarks and introductions
3.	Approval of proposed agenda
4.	Business - Grounds Committee motion:
MOTION: That SHC cancel its garbage collection contract with the City and adopt the Grounds Committee recommendation to use our recycling and compost contractor, BluPlanet Recycling, for all our waste collection. 
Reasons:
•	City garbage fees going up dramatically Jan. 1, 2019
•	Overflowing recycling bins
•	City bins don’t leave room for recycling and compost in most of our enclosures
•	We seldom use capacity of current City garbage bins
At present we pay the City an average of $288 per month for garbage collection and BluPlanet $684 per month for recycling and compost collection. Total current cost $972 per month
The City has announced it will no longer subsidize garbage collection, effective Jan. 1, 2019, and our monthly garbage bill will go to $954 if we keep the current seven containers in place. With no change in City contract and BluPlanet arrangements, total would be $1,638 per month.
Based on discussions with BluPlanet and surveys of our bin usage, Grounds has come up with a proposal to meet all of our disposal needs, including recycling volumes and enclosures, for $1,775 per month.
We need to give the City 30 days’ notice to halt or alter our garbage pickup. Therefore, we should decide before Dec. 1 what to do about garbage collection. 
The main changes involve larger recycling and compost bins, including two big recycling bins by the garage and in Sunnyhill Lane for overflow and items like cardboard, along with smaller bins for conventional garbage.
In this proposal, BluPlanet would take over garbage collection from the City. Because the BluPlanet bins are on casters, all of the waste containers (including recycling and compost) would fit inside the current enclosures. We had been planning to build additional enclosures for compost and recycling—a challenging task on most of the sites--but this would no longer be necessary. 
Here is how the bins would be distributed (one cubic yard is approximately 200 U.S. gallons):
Location	Current	Proposed	
22 SHL	1 4-yard garbage
2 32-gal compost
3 64-gal recycling	1 2-yard garbage
1 64-gal compost
2 95-gal recycling	
4-6 SHL	1 4-yard garbage
2 32-gal compost
3 64-gal recycling	1 2-yard garbage
1 64-gal compost
1 2-yard recycling	
738 4th St.	1 3-yard garbage
1 32-gal compost
2 64-gal recycling	1 2-yard garbage
1 64-gal compost
2 95-gal recycling	
767 3rd St.	1 3-yard garbage
1 32-gal compost
2 64-gal recycling	1 2-yard garbage
1 64-gal compost
2 95-gal recycling	
801 3rd St.	1 3-yard garbage
1 32-gal compost
3 64-gal recycling	1 2-yard garbage
1 64-gal compost
2 95-gal recycling	
garage	1 3-yard garbage
1 4-yard garbage
2 32-gal compost
3 64-gal recycling	1 4-yard garbage
1 64-gal compost
1 2-yard recycling	

Once we see how this works, we can adjust the volumes and placement to meet demand. We also will need to educate members to look for other bins when the nearest one is full, to do a better job sorting recyclables, to flatten cardboard, and to use the larger recycling bins by the garage and in Sunnyhill Lane. 
The best deal we could get from the City would be to reduce our current garbage bin sizes. We currently have three 4-cubic-yard and four 3-cubic-yard bins. If we went down to seven 2-cubic-yard City bins, the cost after Jan. 1 would be $630 per month. The garbage component of the BluPlanet proposal, for the same 14 cubic yards of capacity, would be $645 per month. However, all the City bins are the same width and have to be sideways in the enclosure for pickup by their trucks, so using the City would not solve our enclosure problem. We have estimated that extending the enclosures will cost at least $500 and may not be practical at all in several locations (see one experimental prototype at the enclosure near 801 3rd St.)
Background
The City’s black garbage bins for residential households hold 64 gallons. If we produced that much for 66 units, it would total 4224 gallons or 21 cubic yards. Our current capacity is 24 cubic yards, and we rarely come close to that—typically well under 20. The proposal of five 2-yard and one 4-yard bin would bring our capacity down to 14 cubic yards. That will be challenging, but should help to encourage the continuing trend to more recycling and composting. BluPlanet’s price for garbage is almost identical to the City’s 2019 price for the same volume, and we get the added logistical advantage of bins on casters, so all the waste containers fit inside the enclosures. 
Our compost volumes have been increasing, but haven’t reached capacity. It will be tidier to have a smaller number of larger compost bins. 
We currently have 16 64-gallon recycling bins, for a total of 1024 gallons capacity. The proposal will increase capacity to 1560 gallons, with 800 gallons of that in the 2-yard bins by the garage and in SHL. 
Summary:
•	Recycling bins have been overflowing, and we’ve been getting extra fees for improper sorting (especially cardboard not flattened and placed beside or behind bins)
•	Compost volumes have been steadily increasing and will eventually approach capacity of current bins
•	Garbage volumes are generally much less than the capacity of the current City bins
•	Recycling and compost bins don’t fit inside most of the enclosures because of the way the City garbage bins are configured for pickup by their trucks
Here is the BluPlanet cost estimate:

The committee has decided that we also need a second 2-yard recycling bin in Sunnyhill Lane (additional $170 cost). This would replace two 95-gallon bins (saving $70), for a net increase of $100 over the BluPlanet estimate.
This information was compiled by Bob Bott based on October Grounds meeting with Nelson Berlin of BluPlanet, research by Peter Clyne, follow-up meetings with Nelson, Pam, and Andrea, discussion at Nov. 5 Grounds meeting, and comments from the Board.
 “Waste not, want not.” –adage often attributed to Ben Franklin (1772)
“Willful waste makes woeful want.” –earlier version (1576)

5.	Adjournment

*If you require babysitting please let Andrea know in advance*