Cobalt landfill Amnesty Week postponed
Darlene Wroe
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
COBALT - Amnesty Week for landfill tipping fees for Cobalt residents has been postponed for 2024.
Council plans to review the program with the goal of creating something better for 2025.
The decision was made at the April 30 council meeting.
Cobalt town manager Steve Dalley told council that the municipal office had received a number of inquiries asking whether there would be an Amnesty Week in Cobalt this year during which residents could take their extra garbage to the landfill site without having to pay tipping fees.
However, Cobalt does not have its own landfill site and pays a user fee to the City of Temiskaming Shores to use their site. Temiskaming Shores opened a new location for their landfill in the fall of 2023.
"It has changed with Temiskaming Shores," Dalley told council
"What they are doing now is a tipping fee voucher program."
He said he has spoken with Temiskaming Shores representatives and has learned that no vouchers were created for Cobalt residents.
Cobalt council now has a few options, he said.
"They may want to create their own, similar to what Temiskaming Shores has created," he said. That program cost would be funded through Cobalt taxes, he also noted.
He said Cobalt representatives have also reached out to another municipality about whether they could use their landfill site "and that is not an option."
He proposed that Cobalt council could consider a better option for Amnesty Week for 2025.
He noted that Cobalt pays Temiskaming Shores "quite a bit" for the use of their landfill.
"We're not considered a resident. We're a non-resident so it costs that much more."
Mayor Angela Adshead noted that the non-resident fee is double the amount of a resident fee.
Darlene Wroe, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Temiskaming Speaker
