The future of tipping fee holidays at Greater Sudbury landfill sites remains up in the air, with staff responding to city council’s request for context with four options.
Of these four options, a report by city Solid Waste Support Services acting manager Robyn White recommends a once-per year spring tipping fee holiday.
The city shifted from two weeklong tipping fee holidays to one in 2024, when they cancelled the autumn holiday as a two-year pilot project, which White recommends council make permanent.
This option, she wrote in her report to city council members, “offers the best balance of service, cost-efficiency, and operational effectiveness.”
“It maintains the spring tipping fee holiday for residents while reducing congestion throughout the remainder of the year, supporting waste diversion goals, and generating ongoing revenue,” White wrote.
“This approach encourages greater use of roadside collection and diversion programs, helping to reduce unnecessary landfill trips and extending the lifespan of the city’s landfill sites.”
White’s recommended action reiterations the findings of a report she tabled for an August operations committee meeting of city council.
City council members deferred a decision at the time at the behest of Ward 3 Coun. Michel Brabant, who requested alternative plans.
His recommendation was that the city permanently cancel both spring and autumn weeklong tipping fee holidays and let residents decide when they will take a free trip to the city landfill site.
This recommendation appears as option No. 3 in White’s report (one free residential landfill trip annually), and carries a projected revenue loss of $875,000 in 2026, plus an expense of $63,300. Option No. 4 allows for two free landfill trips per year, which carries a projected revenue loss of $1.27 million in 2026 alongside a cost of $101,950.
By comparison, White’s recommended action, to maintain a spring weeklong tipping fee holiday (option No. 1), carries a projected revenue loss of $280,889 in 2026 and an expense of $16,752.
The cost estimate for option No. 3 is “conservative,” White wrote, “as the program may encourage additional landfill visits. Increased participation could lead to higher volumes of waste being delivered to landfill sites, potentially undermining waste diversion efforts and accelerating the depletion of landfill capacity.”
To offer one free landfill visit per year, the city would mail out physical tickets, which White’s report notes will open the city up to such things as people complaining about not receiving tickets, the unauthorized resale of tickets and forgery.
Option No. 2 is to maintain both spring and autumn residential tipping fee holidays at a projected 2026 revenue loss of $477,791, plus an expense of $33,504.
The spring tipping fee holiday was introduced in 2005 as part of a broader initiative to reduce littering and illegal dumping, White wrote in her report, and the autumn week was added in 2007. Since that time, however, “there is no clear evidence that the program has effectively reduced littering or illegal dumping.”
“During these residential tipping fee holiday weeks, landfill usage increases significantly, leading to extended wait times for both residential and commercial users,” White’s report notes. “The incentive to separate and divert waste is minimal, as the free disposal opportunity encourages residents to bring mixed loads of garbage and recyclables, which diminishes the effectiveness of the city’s waste diversion effort.”
The staff-recommended option No. 1 (spring tipping fee holiday only) is baked into the current base operating budget so would not affect the 2026 tax levy increase, which is tentatively set at an increase of approximately 5.2 per cent (city council will tackle the budget during deliberations next month).
City council members will vote on which tipping fee option they want to proceed with during the Nov. 24 operations committee meeting of city council. The meeting is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m., and can be viewed in-person at the Lionel E. Lalonde Centre in Azilda. It can also be livestreamed by clicking here.
Tyler Clarke covers city hall and political affairs for Sudbury.com.