Metro Vancouver’s garbage system keeps getting more expensive
Fees are climbing, debt is rising and results barely change.
Ratepayers are paying more for a garbage system that shows little sign of improvement
Waste management rarely attracts public attention. When garbage is collected on schedule and disposal sites function smoothly, most residents assume the system is working.
Yet, behind the scenes in Metro Vancouver, solid waste management is becoming a growing financial liability for households and businesses. Fees continue to climb, debt is rising sharply, and the system shows little evidence of improved outcomes.
What should be a routine public service now risks becoming a long-term burden on regional taxpayers.
The financial trend is clear. Inflation-adjusted spending on solid waste management has grown by nearly 50 per cent since 2005, rising from roughly $108 million to about $158 million by 2024, outpacing population growth of approximately 43 per cent over the same period. General per-tonne fees have also increased from about $60 in 2006 to roughly $150 by 2025, while tipping fees have more than doubled. These increases are often justified to drive greater waste diversion or fund improved recycling systems.
However, diversion rates and environmental results have remained largely unchanged. This would indicate that residents are paying more without seeing better outcomes in a region already struggling with affordability.
Metro’s growing reliance on debt to finance new facilities adds further long-term risk for taxpayers. Debt servicing costs for the solid waste program, which were about $1 million in 2018, reached roughly $17 million in 2025, and are projected to climb to about $40 million by 2029. Ratepayers will pay more for garbage collection in the future because of this debt, regardless of whether system performance improves.
At the core of these cost pressures is a governance problem. Metro combines roles that are normally separated—it designs policy, regulates the sector, operates facilities, sets prices, and controls market access. This concentration of roles weakens accountability because no independent body evaluates performance or tests whether decisions deliver value. Policies that affect regional costs can proceed without rigorous external scrutiny or transparent comparison with alternatives.
An effective waste system must collect, process, and dispose of garbage safely while controlling costs. For decades, Metro achieved this balance through a mixed public-private model. Municipalities managed residential collection while private companies handled commercial and industrial waste. Haulers could choose among several disposal facilities, which encouraged competition, innovation, and cost discipline.
That competitive structure has largely disappeared. Over the past decade Metro Vancouver has steadily centralized the processing and disposal through licensing requirements, expanded reporting obligations, and new fees. As a result, the region now acts as a one-stop decision maker.
Compounding the problem is a growing layer of oversight structures. Metro’s Board of Directors consists largely of municipal politicians with many competing responsibilities who rely heavily on staff recommendations for technical decisions. There is no routine value-for-money audit of the waste system, and when costs rise, the same institution imposing fees also justifies them.
Basic economics teaches us that government monopolies reduce competition, suppress innovation, and drive up costs. In fact, many significant advances in waste management technology originated in the private sector, including alternative-fuel fleets and methane capture systems.
In 2019, Canada’s Competition Bureau warned that Metro’s policies could reduce choice and increase fees if market forces are restricted without clear necessity. Rather than addressing those concerns, the region has continued to pursue policies that consolidate control.
Environmental performance, such as reduced waste and lower air emissions, must align with affordability and fiscal sustainability. Policy should always demonstrate measurable results. Rising costs without improvement erode public trust. The question is not whether government should play a role in waste management but whether a system where the same authority acts as regulator, operator, competitor, and enforcer delivers value to those who pay for it.
Metro taxpayers deserve a waste system that delivers reliable service at a reasonable cost while meeting environmental standards. The system must operate with transparency and appropriate competition and follow disciplined fiscal management. Achieving this balance requires addressing governance concerns.
The province of B.C. has the authority and responsibility to ensure regional bodies operate with effective oversight and clear accountability that protects taxpayers. For this reason, the province should initiate an independent review of Metro’s waste governance and regulatory framework that would restore competition and strengthen transparency while ensuring fiscal discipline in long-term infrastructure decisions.
Without reform, the region risks decades of higher costs and growing debt with little improvement in waste management outcomes—proving an old rule of public policy: garbage in, garbage out … leaving taxpayers to take out the trash.
Denise Mullen is Director of Environment, Sustainability and Indigenous Relations at the Business Council of British Columbia.
As published in Troy Media on March 11, 2026.