Waste disposal cost going up for Essex County municipalities

The cost of waste disposal is going up.

Michelle Bishop, general manager of the Essex-Windsor Solid Waste Authority (EWSWA) presented the annual financial forecast during the Dec. 17 meeting of Essex County council.

In 2025, Amherstburg paid $600,780, that will jump by $18,160 to a total of $618,940 in the upcoming year.

The biggest concern amongst county councillors is how much of the waste being collected within the several municipalities will be diverted from the regional landfill due to new recycling programs.

Residents are in the process of getting new bins, including the green bins which are being rolled out to help organic waste, such as those from kitchens, to go to a processing facility in Leamington.

While the primary purpose of recycling is to reduce the amount of waste going to the landfill, and prolong its use, one councillor had questions around residents participating.

“If we start to see an increase in recyclable materials coming into the landfill, and it’s not working, what’s our next step?” asked Kingsville Mayor Dennis Rogers.

Bishop said while it is easy to detect things like tires, electronics and appliances coming in, as far as cardboard, paper, cans and other recyclables, that responsibility could be put back onto individual municipalities and their waste disposal contractors.

“We are required to have inspectors at the landfill. We monitor for contamination. If a load of municipal waste from your residents comes in, we document it. Recyclables are harder to pull because it’s tricky to turn around trucks,” said Bishop.

Overall, the EWSWA will see a 2.1 percent increase, a total of $326,390 of which Essex County’s share is $149,040. That is passed on to the seven municipalities.

“I’m getting asked by residents why there isn’t a savings. I know there is good reason for it,” said Kingsville Deputy Mayor Kim DeYong.

The reason, as pointed out by Bishop, is that there is a loss of revenue due to the fact that as a result of the green bin program, there will be a projected reduction of waste going to the landfill from 109,000 tonnes to 99,266.

Since the cost per tonne of $43 for disposal is not increasing in 2026, the EWSWA, in order to have a balanced budget by 2027, has to get revenue by upping how much each municipality is assessed.

“We have to do everything we can. Whether it’s hard or difficult we have to figure it out, that’s the goal,” said Rogers.