CANMORE – A mandatory commercial food waste diversion program, along with hefty fines for those caught violating new rules, comes on the heels of the death last year of a food-conditioned black bear family feeding in a back alley dumpster.
On April 4, Canmore council approved amendments to the recyclables and waste disposal bylaw to make food waste diversion in the commercial sector mandatory, similar to what Banff, Calgary and many other municipalities across Canada have already done.
While there is a six-month grace period until fall for businesses to plan and prepare for the mandatory program, officials say the overall goal is to encourage more composting and ensure fewer food scraps are heading to the dump, which contribute to greenhouse gas emissions.
Mayor Sean Krausert said this is an important initiative, not only because it supports the community’s climate change goals and human-wildlife coexistence objectives, but also speaks to Canmore’s reputation as a community.
“We had an unfortunate attraction last year that resulted in the euthanization of a family of bears … we need to take whatever steps we need to in order to prevent such things from happening,” said the mayor during the April 4 council meeting.
“Not only is it obviously bad for the family of bears, and our community mourns any such loss, but it also goes to our reputation. We are in a very visible playing field and this is an area where people should appreciate the efforts that we are taking to protect the wildlife and coexist with them.”
The bylaw changes put the onus on property owners to ensure all food service businesses, from restaurants, pubs and coffee shops, must have food waste diversion services in place – either by signing up for the municipality’s program or one of their choice.
Along with this, no commercial premises are allowed to put any food into a waste bin, and any containers or roll carts that are used must either be kept in an animal-proof enclosure, be animal-proof or be a certified animal-resistant roll cart.
In addition, used cooking oil containers that are left outside must now be kept inside an animal-proof enclosure or enclosure, like a shed that can latch, so as not to attract opportunistic wildlife.
Simon Robins, supervisor of solid waste services for the Town of Canmore, said these used oil containers currently line the town’s back alleys outside commercial food businesses.
“None of them are bear-proof, they are all out in the open, and they are a significant wildlife attractant,” he said.
“Essentially we’re saying it needs to be inside something… the bins are covered in grease and so the bin itself is an attractant, so even if it was latched and closed, we’d have animals wanting to lick the outside of these containers.”
In September 2019, Canmore’s residential food waste collection program rolled out followed by a voluntary commercial food waste service in December 2020.
But with only 30 per cent of relevant businesses signed up for the commercial food waste service, and with food waste making up about half of commercial garbage in town, Robins said it was time for stricter measures.
“The purpose behind the bylaw was to make food diversion mandatory for food establishments,” he said.
Fines for a first time offence start at $1,000, jumping to $5,000 for a second offence and $10,000 for a third offence for those not properly disposing of commercial garbage and food waste and maintaining secured animal-proof containers, enclosures, or carts.
Krausert said he believed the higher fines are appropriate, noting there is a cost to pay for those who violate the new rules.
“What is a bear’s life worth? And in that context, it’s just great if everybody just complies. I would be very happy if we don’t hand out a single one of these fines,” he said.
Coun. Wade Graham was unsuccessful in his attempt to hike the fine for a first-time offence from $1,000 to $2,000 to send an even stronger message, though he did get support to go from administration’s recommended $2,500 fine for a second offence to $5,000.
Some councillors were worried about the ability of businesses to pay a higher first-time offence as they begin to recover from tough financial times, including inflationary costs – but the stiffer $5,000 fine for a second offence was more than fair game.
“I feel that a more significant fine is appropriate for the life of a family of bears, which we saw removed from the landscape this last summer,” said Graham.
Graham also wants want fines from this to be dedicated to Bow Valley WildSmart, not general revenues. Administration will come back with a process and recommendations to direct revenues to that organization for council’s consideration.
“I am hoping we have zero revenue from this, however, if we do have revenue from this, then the education that WildSmart provides would be directly benefitted,” said Graham.
On Oct. 3, 2022, a female bear and her two cubs were euthanized by Fish and Wildlife officers following reports the bruins were feeding in a downtown commercial dumpster over a period of several nights, and sleeping in nearby residential backyards.
The Town of Canmore fined the property owner $250 under the recyclables and waste bylaw for failing to maintain the bin in an animal-proof manner.
The black bear family, which initially included three cubs, first showed up in Canmore at the end of August last year, making the rounds through various neighbourhoods snacking on berries and fruit trees, hanging out near playgrounds and requiring a police presence one morning as kids went off to school.
The bruins were eventually relocated out of town approximately 200 kilometres away to an area west of Caroline on Sept. 17, after bolting into a downtown restaurant and devouring bags of brown sugar. Alberta Fish and Wildlife deemed the restaurant was not at fault.
Within two weeks, however, the mamma bear and two of her cubs were back in Canmore. There are conflicting reports on what happened to the third cub – some suspect it perished on the arduous journey back to Canmore while others claim it was spotted in Canmore again.
Caitlin Miller, the Town of Canmore’s manager of protective services, said the community standards bylaw still has a $250 fine for wildlife attractants.
But she said the new fines in the recycling and waste disposal bylaw are specifically for commercial animal-proof bins and enclosures.
“We wanted to make sure that they both represented the severity of committing the offence and were an adequate deterrent,” she told council at its April 4 meeting.
Jim Pissot, a local conservationist who has long called on the Town of Canmore to do better when it comes to wildlife attractant management, welcomed the changes to the bylaw.
“Too bad another bear family has paid the price for human misbehaviour … but excellent proposed improvements in the bylaws and strengthening of Canmore’s intent to live with wildlife in the Bow Valley,” he said.
“Now, let’s see what monitoring, compliance and enforcement will look like.”
Council has also approved $10,000 to implement the mandatory commercial food waste diversion program beginning in October.
Robins said a contractor would be hired to visit each establishment, which has yet to sign up for a program to get on the municipality’s service or find an alternative program.
“If that wasn’t successful, then it would move onto municipal enforcement and there would be fines for not diverting food waste,” he said.
