2022 MMSW Seasonal Household Pilot Study

News posted on March 22, 2022
March 22, 2022
Dear MMSW Collector,
MMSW is inviting collectors with seasonally occupied households to participate in a Seasonal Household Pilot Study to guide a potential payment structure for these types of households.
As per section 3.3 of the Waste Packaging and Paper Stewardship Plan, seasonally occupied households are a source of residential waste packaging and paper (WPP). The 2022 study builds on previous work undertaken to understand the impact of seasonal residents on a community’s recycling and to provide sufficient information for cost modeling. Your participation in the study will provide important input for MMSW to establish adequate baseline data about the relevant cost impacts and inform an applicable payment rate for these types of households.
Seasonal Household Definition
  • Seasonally occupied households are residential households occupied on a seasonal basis. Seasonally occupied households do not include commercial vacation facilities, such as hotels, motels, cottages and cabins. Rental, co-operative, fractional ownership, time-share or condominium accommodation associated with sports and leisure facilities (e.g., ski resorts) are also considered commercial operations.
Eligibility For Participation
To participate in this pilot study, please consider the following criteria:
  • Your city, town, village, resort village or rural municipality is currently registered with MMSW’s program.
  • You are a regional waste authority currently registered with MMSW.
  • If your collected residential WPP during the summer months (May – Sept) is greater than 12% than off-season months.
  • You are able to provide documentation to support the presence of seasonal housing in your municipality/RWA, such as:
  • A utility report (e.g. water, electricity, garbage, etc.) or tax roll
  • Other indicator/documentation
Participation Includes The Following Activities:
  • Providing MMSW with your 2021 annual program costs for residential WPP.
  • Submitting reports throughout 2022, via the online WeRecycle Portal, that include:
  • For depot service communities, report the weight of all collected residential recyclables on a monthly basis, or quarterly broken out by month (instead of a quarterly or semi-annually combined weight).
  • For curbside service communities, report your collection weight at minimum every month (instead of a quarterly or semi-annually combined weight).
  • Participating in brief interviews with MMSW to learn more about seasonal impacts to program costs including administration, maintenance, staff/labor, etc.
A one-time payment will be made to survey participants in 2023, based on our assessment of the annual costs to your program for seasonal housing, provided pilot study requirements have been met.
Thank you for considering our pilot study. If you have any questions, require further information or would like to formally register for the pilot study, please contact me directly at  or 306-370-6407
Mr. Kelly G. Goyer
Director Field Services
Multi-Material Stewardship Western