Chris Lowrey
PONTIAC Sept. 26, 2018
On Sept. 17, the Municipality of Pontiac announced a campaign in partnership with the municipalities of Cantley and Chelsea to spread awareness about the upcoming implementation of door-to-door compost pickup.
The announcement was met with opposition from several residents who were upset that the municipality will go ahead with door-to-door pickup instead of at-home composting.
The municipality launched a survey in March 2017 to gauge the preferences of residents on the topic of at-home versus door-to-door composting.
The Quebec government has set ambitious targets to phase out all organic waste from landfills by 2020.
As a result, municipalities have to implement composting programs to divert organic waste from landfills.
Depending on the population size of the municipality, the threshold for how much organic waste that needs to be diverted varies.

The Municipality of Pontiac is considered a small municipality because its population of 5,681 exceeds the “small municipality” threshold of 5,000 residents.
As a result, the amount of waste that needs to be diverted is more stringent than a municipality with less than 5,000 people.
If the municipality doesn’t meet its targets, it will lose provincial grants aimed at offsetting the costs associated with compost collection.
In July of 2017, based on the survey results the municipality opted to go with the at-home composting option. Under this plan, the municipality would provide compost bins to residents who would compost on their own properties.
But in February of this year, the municipal council reversed the decision of the previous council and opted instead for door-to-door collection.
In the motion at council to change from at-home composting to door-to-door pickup, it says that the at-home option would not allow the municipality to reach the goals set by the province.
The motion also gives the municipality’s Director of Infrastructures and Public Works to start the tendering process for the new organic waste bins. It also mandated the Director General to “review the municipal regulations in order to maximize the valorization of putrescible organic matter while minimizing the costs to taxpayers.”
It was carried on a divided vote, with councillor Nancy Draper-Maxsom voting against it.
Residents voiced their displeasure on the municipality’s social media page where the awareness campaign was announced.
One of those residents penned a counter-argument to the municipality’s plan.
“I thought, ‘This is the craziest thing in a rural area,” said Municipality of Pontiac resident Sheila McCrindle.
Both McCrindle and her husband worked for Environment Canada – her husband worked specifically in waste management.
She said it doesn’t make sense for a municipality like Pontiac to take the same path as Cantley and Chelsea – both of which have higher population densities than Pontiac.
“We got in touch with the mayor and my husband put together an information brief and we gave it to her,” McCrindle said.
McCrindle said she asked Mayor Joanne Labadie a question at a council meeting and was told that she and her husband would be asked to brief the committee responsible for looking into it.
“Five months later, I see this press release … that our mayor has joined with Chelsea and Cantley to start a program to initiate curbside pickup,” McCrindle said. “So we had no other communication with her between April and now.”
McCrindle opposes the curbside option for several reasons.
“We’re a very low population density,” she said. “And a lot of people already compost. Why would we send trucks door to door – traveling hundreds of kilometres every week – to pick up very little residual [waste]?”
McCrindle said she’s in favour of at-home composting.
But the most egregious part of this policy for McCrindle is that those who already compost will be forced to pay for those who don’t.
“You do not make people who are doing something good for the environment pay for those who aren’t doing something good,” she said. “We’re supposed to be following the polluter-pay principle … and here we are asking everybody to pay for the people who can’t be bothered to figure out how to compost.”
McCrindle pointed to the fact that 46 per cent of respondents to the municipality’s survey said they already compost.
She said that while she’s confident the municipality can get the majority of residents on board, she remains realistic.
“We’re never going to get 100 per cent,” she said. “We spoke to the provincial official who’s responsible for this program and he said, ‘For rural municipalities we know there is going to be some difficulties and we’re not expecting 100 per cent.’”
McCrindle also said that since many people will have to sort their waste with the implementation of door-to-door pickup, “They’re already 90 per cent of the way to composting.”
Representatives from the Municipality of Pontiac could not be reached by press time.