Outside municipal workers in St. John’s NL say there are strong environmental and economic reasons to go public with its new recycling program.
CUPE 569 is arguing it’s most cost-effective to keep the new program in-house, starting with a pilot project for 1,400 homes. The project should be up and running at the end of April.
The public option has a 14 per cent cost advantage over private corporations, because municipalities are exempt from the Harmonized Sales Tax (HST). Adding to the savings, the city buys its fuel in bulk at a cheaper price than the pumps.
“To simply say that this service is going to be contracted out to the lowest bidder without weighing it against the public option is doing a disservice to the taxpayers and residents who will be footing the bill,” says CUPE 569 President Greg Baker.
Baker points to the Cape Breton Regional Municipality, which went public with a recycling program expansion after studying all options.