STAFF REPORT

February 22, 2000

To: Works Committee

From: Barry H. Gutteridge, Commissioner, Works and Emergency Services

Subject: Comparative Analysis of the CUPE Waste Management Plan

Purpose:

The purpose of this report is to obtain authority to amend the Toronto Integrated Resource Management (TIRM) Diversion Request for Proposals (RFP) consulting contract with MacViro Consultants Inc. to prepare a comparative analysis of the CUPE Waste Management Plan for the City of Toronto.

Financial Implications and Impact Statement:

The total cost of the consultant's analysis is $32,500.00 after municipal GST rebate, consisting of $22,150.00 for the evaluation of the CUPE Plan (phase 1) and $10,350.00 for the comparative analysis of the CUPE Plan in relation to the waste diversion systems evolving from the TIRM Waste Diversion RFP process (phase 2). Funds are available in the approved 2000 Capital Budget under Program CSW168 - Waste Management Planning.

Recommendations:

It is recommended that:

(1) authority be granted to amend the TIRM Diversion consulting contract with MacViro Consultants Inc. to conduct a two phase analysis of the CUPE Waste Management Plan at a cost of $32,500.00 after municipal GST rebate; and

(2) staff report back to Works Committee in April with the results of the phase 1 analysis of the CUPE Waste Management Plan and with options for proceeding with the phase 2 comparative evaluation.

Background:

Toronto Council, at its meeting on December 1 and 2, 1999, adopted, as amended, Clause No. 2 of Report No. 5 of Works Committee, which recommended, in part, that:

(1) the Commissioner of Works and Emergency Services be requested to undertake the following activities:

(a) for the purpose of assisting Council in the decision on the award in the Toronto Integrated Solid Waste Resource Management Process (TIRM) diversion Request for Proposals (RFP) process, conduct a comparative analysis of an in-house solid waste diversion solution using the technology and system components proposed by Toronto Civic Employee's Union - CUPE Local 416, to be completed at the time of the proposal closing in the TIRM process;

(b) incorporate within the above analysis a further option, if possible, of maintaining the existing blue and grey box programs in order to promote and maximize source separation of recyclables; and

(c) establish a protocol to ensure the objectivity of the comparative analysis.

(2) (a) the Commissioner of Works and Emergency Services review and comment on the Wet/Dry Proposal submitted by CUPE Local 416 and the Toronto Environmental Alliance (TEA), and report back thereon to the meeting of the Works Committee scheduled to be held on March 22, 2000;

(b) the Commissioner of Works and Emergency Services further report to the March 2000 Works Committee meeting on current plans and budget commitments for constructing composting and recycling facilities to see if these plans could be modified to fit with a wet/dry system; and as part of the review, on using the Dufferin composting and sorting plants to quickly implement the first phase of the CUPE/TEA Wet/Dry Plan; and

(c) the Chief Financial Officer, in consultation with the Commissioner of Works and Emergency Services, be requested to review the CUPE/TEA proposal's financial recommendations, and report back thereon to the March 2000 Works Committee meeting.

Discussion:

The deadline for submissions to the TIRM RFP for Proven Waste Diversion Capacity is being extended to mid March. Once the submissions are received, our consultants will be conducting a technical and financial review of the proposals, which will include a modelling exercise to identify the financial and waste diversion impact of the individual proposals on the total integrated waste management system (i.e. collection, transfer, processing and disposal). The modelling work will include an analysis of two stream collection, which is compatible with a Wet/Dry system. We are planning to report to Works Committee in April 2000 recommending a list of top qualified TIRM respondents and seeking authority to proceed to contract negotiations with one or more respondents.

CUPE has been given a copy of the Diversion RFP document and an opportunity to make any adjustments to their plan before mid March 2000 when the Diversion RFPs are due. Staff have met with CUPE representatives to provide requested information.

The CUPE Plan involves the implementation of a "wet/dry" waste management system in which all waste is divided into two streams - wet and dry material. The dry material (recyclable material and other dry garbage) is processed to capture recyclables and the wet stream (e.g. kitchen organics, diapers and low-grade paper) is composted. The CUPE document utilizes waste composition data from the Metro Toronto Preliminary 3Rs Strategy (1995) and Wet/Dry program experience from other jurisdictions to make a number of planning assumptions with respect to the number of facilities required, the material recovery levels, revenue projections, facility capital and operating costs, and collection costs.

Analysis of the CUPE Plan will require a review of the assumptions and a comparison with other waste management systems.

The first step in evaluating the CUPE Plan is to examine each of these assumptions to determine their accuracy with respect to Toronto's waste management situation. It is recommended that we amend the contract with MacViro to undertake this phase 1 evaluation. MacViro is proposing to utilize one of the existing project sub-contractors, Enviros RIS, since they are the member of the TIRM consulting team with specific responsibility for conducting the system modelling work described above, and they have recently conducted a detailed evaluation of the Guelph wet/dry program. The cost for MacViro and Enviros RIS to conduct the phase 1 work is $22,150.00 after municipal GST rebate.

Staff are proposing to report back to Committee with the results of the phase 1 analysis in April, 2000, at the same time that we report on the submissions received in response to the TIRM RFP. The April report will present options for conducting the second step which involves a comparative analysis of the CUPE Plan in relation to the waste management system options that evolve from the TIRM RFP submissions (phase 2), including a financial review and a protocol for ensuring the objectivity of the analysis. The estimated cost for MacViro and Enviros RIS to conduct the phase 2 work is $10,350.00 after municipal GST rebate.

Conclusions:

It is recommended that we amend the TIRM Diversion consulting contract with MacViro Consultants Inc. to conduct a two phase analysis of the CUPE Waste Management Plan and report to Committee in April 2000 with the results of the phase 1 analysis and options for a phase 2 comparative analysis.

Contact:

Andrew Pollock

Director, Policy and Planning

Solid Waste Management Services

Works and Emergency Services

Phone: 392-4715

Fax: 392-4754

E-mail: apolloc@toronto.ca

Angelos Bacopoulos

General Manager

Solid Waste Management Services

Barry H. Gutteridge

Commissioner

Works and Emergency Services

CAP:RS

(cupe.doc)