Residents bearing heavier load in landfill charges

By Lethbridge Herald on January 29, 2016.

This is further to my letter published in the Lethbridge Herald Jan. 16 regarding the proposed curbside recycling program.
Last year we replaced our bed. We disposed of the old bed at the landfill. It weighed 200 pounds and cost us $7. (In weight and volume it equalled our yearly garbage of six bins, for which the city charged us $300).
The landfill calculation is by weight — the city’s is by volume.
If per-metric-tonne landfill charges remained the same, it would take one bed, or six bins of garbage with an equal weight/volume of 200 lbs., at a landfill cost of $7 each per year — 42.857 years to equal our yearly city charge of $300.
By comparison, our yearly city charge of $300 X 42.857 years would cost us $12,857.10.
For the exact landfill space used over 42.857 years, who gets the better deal — industry, etc. at $300, or city residents at $12.857.10?
If we could opt out of city recycling and dump at the landfill by weight, it would cost us a grand total of $300 for 42.857 years to dispose of our yearly 200 lbs. of waste. (That represents a personal financial saving of $12,557.10).
Recycling to save the landfill overflow is a myth.
I ask city council why is there such a dichotomy in landfill usage charges? Why are city residents carrying the major financial burden?
Daniel Nyberg
Lethbridge