Garbage pick-up and the new Green Bin Program
Today I would like your thoughts on key issues that will affect our lives in Ottawa: Garbage pick-up and the new Green Bin Program (also known as Source Separated Organics).
There is no doubt that the management of our garbage including garbage pick up is a core service.
The City of Ottawa is moving forward with a new Green Bin Program starting in October 2009. This means that the City will encourage residents to separate organics (smelly garbage), fruits, vegetables, and meats into a separate green bin. This will help our City meet its diversion targets, take pressure off our landfills and improve our environmental footprint. There is more to this concept than just changing the way we deal with garbage: Treating waste as a resource. The stuff collected from green bins will be transformed into compost and will be good for landscaping use.
Weekly or bi-weekly garbage pick-up - Why the debate? :
On Monday the issue of weekly or bi-weekly garbage pick-up was reviewed at Planning Committee. The vote was a 5-5 tie and nothing was decided. This means we will debate this issue next week at Council. So why skip a week of garbage pick up? Well the notion is that once we introduce this new program, residents will have less garbage to hand out so the City won’t have to pick it up as often.
The question becomes then when we introduce the Green Bin Program, should we maintain weekly garbage pick up on a temporary basis until 2012 to let residents adapt. Do we move to bi-weekly garbage collection six months after we put the program in place (April 2010) to encourage people to participate? Or do we turn to a potential third option and maintain weekly garbage pick up but lower the amount of bags allowed per household. (The current limit is 3).
Note: City staff informed us that if we choose to go bi-weekly, we could either start in April 2010 or in 2012. There are no options between those dates because of contractual issues (i.e. availability of trucks) with the private company who will be responsible for pick up of the green bins.
Garbage pick up is a core service and I want to make sure we make the right decision for our residents.
Let’s get the discussion going. Tell me what you think.
August 20th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
I believe that having a green bin for household compost is a long time coming, but I disagree with cutting garbage pickup in half.
No one is forcing anyone to put out a bag of trash every week. Between the black, blue and green bins, there will be less garbage for the trucks to stop for without forcing a limit on the number of bags, but not everyone has a bag’s worth of trash ready for the curb at the same time. Plus, if you miss the truck, you’ll have to keep the trash for TWO WEEKS instead of one.
It’s just like the mail: We still get daily pickup and delivery, even though many, if not most, of us communicate, pay our bills and read our magazines online.
August 20th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
Stephanie
I agree that bi-weekly pick-up is only one option and for some it is not a good option. I am thinking about families with babies and the need to dispose of diapers, or families that have just moved etc. There will always be situations where bi-weekly garbage collection will just add to the complexity of doing something that should be simple.
The environmental purpose of SSO is to reduce waste going into landfills and turning the organic portion of the waste into something useful. So we need incentives to drive diversion of garbage into our recycling and SSO programs.
One other option might be limiting the amount of residual garbage pick-up to one bag a week to encourage people to increase the amount they recycle. I am interested in your thoughts on that option and the pros and cons related to weekly limited garbage pick-up vs. bi-weekly.
Larry
August 20th, 2008 at 2:36 pm
I am a father of three children born 2003, 2005 and 2006. We just finished toilet training our youngest (yeah!).
First, I would hope that sooner rather than later, the city will compost diapers. If I can pay to create the waste, I should pay to clean it up.
Second, I am in favour of bi-weekly collection. That is how we handle recycling (paper collection is every two weeks). Why not garbage? What makes throwaway stuff more important than recycled stuff?
Finally, I worry about the cost of garbage collection. With the green bin, recycling and garbage, that is three trucks per week past my house! With the rising price of fuel, that is going to cost the city some big $$$ sooner rather than later. Let’s bite the bullet now. Decrease garbage, increase the number of plastics (and Styrofoam) we can recycle and pray that our federal and provincial leaders will start being serious about the amount of packaging used.
August 21st, 2008 at 1:30 am
Garbage pick-up is a fundamental core service of the city which we have seen now has a user fee. Strange as I thought core services were covered by property taxes.
Garbage pickup should remain as weekly service and keep the limit to three bags. The city never knows when people do house cleaning, or if people travel or other reasons. As I travel for work most weeks I do not put out any garbage then some weeks I put out two bags. If I am not at home during the garbage pickup days then the garbage may not be put out.
We pay for this service in two ways so why are we tinkering with this fundamental core service.
August 21st, 2008 at 5:50 am
A garbage pick-up reduction will reduce the garbage in landfills, but not directly.
It will be the act of some residents stowing their garbage in parks, ravines / ditches and other convenient areas that will cut down on landfill garbage.
As for the Green-bin idea, I guess people that put their garbage out the night before in garbage tins or cans will have to start putting their garbage out the morning of garbage day. Otherwise we are going to have a lot of fat skunks and racoon’s eating out of the green-buffet-bin overnight and making a large mess.
August 21st, 2008 at 5:57 am
I believe that Ottawa needs to maintain once a week pickup. they need to work with multi unit buildings to reduce their trash. Not everyone has a garage to store their wet waste in and rely on weekly pickups. I further believe that the city needs to institute a twice yearly junk pickup, either working with agencies such as the Salvation Army and Clothesline. It is fine to say to the people we will no longer pick up large items such as a dish washer, but where do these things end up. They get placed in someone elses trash bin and end up at the land fill rather than being recycled. Garbage is a core service and must be maintained at a high level.
August 21st, 2008 at 7:17 am
First of all, our garbage isn’t any different than other city in Canada already doing bi-weekly garbage collection with weekly green box and recycling.
Most of the stinky garbage (save the diapers, of course) will get collected in the green box every week. Collecting diapers weekly with organics would be the ideal solution - but there is extra cost to that (maybe it’s worth it?). After putting organics in the weekly green box, and cardboard/glass/plastic in the weekly recycling… what’s left?
I also think that 3 bags bi-weekly week is too high… it should be lowered to one or two (especially after SSO). If people really want the ability to put out more in one week… then we should all get 52 garbage tags per year with our taxes and use them when we need them. Extra tags could be bought for $0.50-$1.00.
The City is facing a budget crisis and a landfill crisis. Everyone will need to modify their behaviour a bit to come up with the right solution. I don’t want to live in a City using 5 landfills (only City in N/A < 1million people that does). Nor do I want us to continue to have the lowest recycling rate in Ontario.
August 21st, 2008 at 7:21 am
Many cities have already reduced their collections to bi-weekly with the introduction of a green-bin style program. We are not the first to head this direction. They have successfully transitioned to this system and we should do the same.
Once people start using their green bins their regular garbage will be greatly reduced. As a result the max number of garbage bags should be reduced as well.
We are a consumerist society, to reduce our waste should be a major focus. Purchasing items with less packaging, increasing what we are able to recycle, composting or using green bins. These are all steps we must take for our future and for our children’s future.
Speaking of our children… for those worried about diapers, it might be worth switching to cloth. It is far more environmentally friendly and it is far more affordable in the long run. I know many parents that use cloth the majority of the time and although they still use disposibles occasionally they are reducing the amount of garbage they take to the curb.
Convienence is all areas of life is great, but at what cost to our environment and to our futures?
August 21st, 2008 at 1:16 pm
I live in a townhouse that has a common area where the residents place their garbage on collection days and we have no control over who puts things in this area. Because there are some individuals who can’t be bothered to dispose of things properly, or make the necessary arrangements to do so, we often have to pay for removal of items that are not collected with the regular garbage (appliances, large furniture items, etc). I am afraid that this problem will become more pronounced if stricter garbage limits are put into place by the city.
Limiting the amount of residual garbage pick-up to one bag a week will likely encourage some of those people who have exceeded that limit to dump it on garbage pads like the ones where I live or wherever else they can find to dump it. This will definitely be the case if the city is planning to charge fees for removal of “extra” garbage.
August 21st, 2008 at 2:08 pm
Limiting bags is not workable. I live in a complex where 6 of us share the same curb. How do you know who put what out and how many? What if someone misses getting garbage out one pickup, what do we do with it? Next thing you know people will start dumping garbage on someone elses curb then maybe just easier to dump it anywhere. Please think things ourt before thinking outloud.
August 21st, 2008 at 2:53 pm
A great discussion! Here are my two cents:
I think moving to bi-weekly garbage pick-up sooner rather than later is the best choice we can make as a city. Other communities have done it and so can we. People will figure out and make it work. The sooner we do this, the sooner we start saving land-fill space, encouraging composting, and saving money! It is also a great way to communicate to people who may not realize the “real” cost of garbage collection! You are only asking people to figure how to manage their garbage for an extra 7 days before they pass it on the city (and us tax payers) to be entombed for eternity in one of our land-fills.
I don’t like limiting bags to just one a week for many reasons as others previously mentioned: common garbage spaces, my spring/fall clean-up, not to mention that I know you can buy some really big garbage bags out there. Is there going to be a guy measuring the bags as they are collected? I hope not! Also, I personally don’t like the idea adding tags. I believe it will just add more complexity to our system and who wants more bureaucracy?
Give me a simple framework to work with and I will sort it out! Into boxes of course: Blue; black; green and garbage bi-weekly
August 21st, 2008 at 4:12 pm
I believe that garbage pick up should be twice a week in the summer and bi weekly in the winter. It would be disastrous if we went bi weekly in summer months.
the green box is a long time coming and should be pick upbi-weekly
August 21st, 2008 at 4:23 pm
Does it have to be “7″ versus “14″ day cycles? If people can adjust to different pickup schedules (and holiday adjustments), why does it have to be the same day every week?
The City of London has, for years, simply shifted your regular garbage day by one day for holidays. If your pickup was Tuesdays before the holiday, it’ll be Wednesdays after. And so on. After five holidays you shift from a Friday pickup to a Monday pickup (a ten day gap).
Why not extend that idea to select an eight-day, or even a nine- or ten-day cycle for all municipal garbage pickup in Ottawa? The city can issue an 8 1/2 x 11 calendar indicating exactly which days pickup will occur for each household in the city (versus the current idea of issuing a “wide-area” schedule and leaving you to guess what day of the week is yours). Sure, some weeks you’d have to hold your garbage over an extra weekend, but it’s still a lot better than waiting two full weeks before that smelly hybrid waste (an item that’s not all organic, not all paper, not all plastic) will be carted away.
It would even be possible (although probably not wise) to have different pickups (trash, paper, blue-box, green-box and yard) on different days (or even different frequencies. But for now let’s keep the pickups together, with an alternating schedule of green+blue green+black pickups.
I’ve never understood why the city builds the current contracts in the manner it does - in effect pricing in overtime for holidays,
If the city then chooses to implement a “tags” program later on for waste, or otherwise incrementally apply pressure on us taxpayers, the dials are ready to be tuned.
August 21st, 2008 at 6:19 pm
Allow me to go outside the box here… I believe that this is all a complete waste of time, effort and especially taxpayers’ money. Why? K.I.S.S. Keep It Simple Stupid! This is my vision for the future of garbage:
Taxpayers pay for the service. We then put ALL our garbage in as many boxes, bags, etc. that we please. ONE truck comes by and picks it ALL up. It is then ALL brought to one location where it is then converted to energy and placed into the electric grid. PROBLEM SOLVED.
We’re already testing this method, why would we go through this huge waste of time and money on another ‘coloured box’ scheme?
Larry, PLEASE, I live with my wife and three children in a small rowhouse. I DO NOT EVEN HAVE ROOM TO STORE ALL THESE #@!$#@! BOXES!!!!
August 21st, 2008 at 6:28 pm
Love the third option. As a dog owner, I’ve already had email traffic with staff and council but with no clear explanation as to why we don’t just fork over some extra money and get the better (ie diaper and pet waste) compost option.
Without these being included, there is no way I would accept biweekly pickup. Weekly pickup with a 1-2 bag limit though is fair, reasonable - and hygenic.
Perhaps some special exemption or program could address needs of multi-unit dwellings or for those with large numbers in one household.
Otherwise, between green and blue and black bins there is no excuse for having more than 1-2 bags of garbage a week. The only reason would be renos or spring cleaning, and these would be infrequent - and why we have municipal transfer stations in the first place.
August 21st, 2008 at 8:44 pm
I would just like to clarify this statement I made “We then put ALL our garbage in as many boxes, bags, etc. that we please.”
By ‘boxes’ I did not mean recycle bins. I meant boxes from new purchases, etc. that are filled with garbage instead of garbage bags. In my opinion we could eliminate recycle bins completely, they are an unnecessary complication.
August 21st, 2008 at 9:12 pm
“Was garbage day last week or the week before?” is a similar term many of us will be saying if we go to a biweekly collection system, a system that truly collects, confuses, and ultimately stinks.
However, I have seen the results of a garbage system that works: When I lived in Vancouver, once a week, each house could toss just two bags of garbage, and they had to be in a can, one can. That’s it.
I was always aware of what I was throwing out, and it forced me to recycle. Plus I spent less on garbage bags. When I moved to Ottawa, I quickly disregarded my garbage-conserving practices, and became a slob.
That city is efficient, and learning from other’s trials and errors is smart. We can easily reduce our waste if forcefully encouraged.
August 22nd, 2008 at 7:32 am
Just like any other program, some people will jump right on board, some will require a nudge to participate, and some will refuse no matter what you do. Bi-weekly garbage collection is that nudge that will help make this important diversion program as effective as it can be. Weekly garbage collection will just enable those that are too lazy to do that little bit extra to opt out of a program that can make a real difference.
Hopefully this Council and mayor can find the backbone to do the right thing. Biweekly garbage collection has my vote, as does the coucillor/mayor that votes for it.
August 22nd, 2008 at 10:49 am
I am all for biweekly garbage pickup. Ideally, we should spend more and get the premium compost option where diapers are in the green box. I also really don’t understand the issue of stinky diapers…I had always put the poopy diapers in a plastic bag thus sealing the smell.
Going to garbage tags encourages more plastic waste as I now use a garbage can (which is never full after 1 week) to contain my small bags of garbage. If I had to use tags, then I would have to put the small bags in a larger green bag and thus using more unrecyclable plastic.
August 22nd, 2008 at 1:48 pm
The needless debating-unbelieveable. Call the mayor of HALIFAX-I am sure he can walk you through the steps of a program which has worked successfully for many, many years.
August 22nd, 2008 at 2:05 pm
http://www.halifax.ca/wrms/documents/2008Area1.pdf
As I said above-just a thought!!!!!
August 23rd, 2008 at 1:26 pm
It seems that London has changed to normally be on a six-business-day collection cycle, rather than five as I suggested above, an approach I believe has a lot of merit for the City of Ottawa to adopt. For more details, London’s website has additional info.
http://www.london.ca/d.aspx?s=/Garbage/Garbage_FAQs.htm
August 25th, 2008 at 2:28 am
Why are we even discussing a green box program when Rod Bryden has indicated he wants organics and carbon for his project at Plasco. Frtom what I understand these ingredients burn well and create a higher rate of electricity.
Reduce pick-up and eliminate the green box program and save us taxpayers even more money.
August 26th, 2008 at 1:40 am
I already compost everything so green boxes won’t make any difference, except I’ll pay for everybody else I guess. I think people are confused between reducing landfill use 60% and reducing garbage collection 60%. Green boxes won’t reduce landfill use by much because when green stuff decomposes it takes up little space. If it were otherwise I’d be up to my nostrils in compose having lived in my house for 30 years now. As far as I’m concerned the whole green box idea is nonsense. I don’t see how we can save enough money on landfill to pay for the extra pickups. Did anyone at city hall actually cost this out? If so why don’t they show us the numbers and the underlying assumptions? Without seeing those we’re all talking nonsense.
August 27th, 2008 at 5:45 am
Lee says it all. Show me one place that this type of program has not worked.
Get your Communications experts at work to explain why/how this will work. Respond immediately to all those who choose to raise “boogey-men.” And surely the Great Diaper Disposal Discussion can be terminated by a few straightforward decisions !
And to think that my “Board of Directors” may think that it requires me more than six months to learn what goes into a Green Bin! And what sort of ‘glitches’ are forseen that requires more than 6 months to identify and resolve?
By not choosing an early move to bi-weekly residual garbage pickup you are losing an opportunity to save some $5 Million with minimal disadvantages to a resident. We have a large number of underfunded activities that could benefit from this money.
Any effort to encourage the reduction of the volume of residual garbage has to be another step in the right direction. Really, the look at curbside on garbage day is an embarassment and I live close enough to the Carp Dump to have to live with its consequences.
This endless debate and posturing is becoming quite tiresome and does not reflect well on the City’s ability to effectively manage and decide on significant municipal issues.
Decide on how the diapers will be handled, get the Green Bin operating ASAP, allow several months to give residents the time to familiarize themselves and to overcome teething problems, and then make some savings by being more efficient and relying on a bi-weekly pick-up of the residual garbage.
THIS IS WASTE MANAGEMENT, NOT NUCLEAR SCIENCE…GET ON WITH IT
September 9th, 2008 at 7:25 pm
We should have it collected twice a week during summer and as it is right now during winter. Saving money ? One million a year is probably less then what we are spending a day with our troops in meddle east. Where I grow up, Sao Paulo Brasil, garbage is collected EVERY DAY. This is public health matter. Nobody will be washing food containers to store those for two weeks. So we will have bacterias everywhere despite the left-overs being collected a week. Ottawa… do not be worse then places that “we” call third-world.