City
How Much Is Your Garbage Worth?
The city is about to roll out a new garbage collection plan that will charge residents a fee directly based on the amount of garbage they throw out. The plan, which was proposed in early April, is finally ready for approval by city council. They've come up with a fee schedule that looks like this:
- a 75 L bin will cost $209 a year (equal to one large garbage bag);
- a 120 L bin will cost $250;
- a 240 L bin will cost $310; and
- a 360 L bin will cost $360 (that's FIVE full bags of garbage)
The new system will begin immediately in 2500 households in Toronto. But critics are moaning about how the plan only targets residential homeowners, and they feel time and resources should be spent on getting apartment buildings and other multiple family housing units recycling and composting more. Well, they are working on that, aren't they? Plus, the revenue from this new collection plan will go to developing more and better recycling and composting systems for apartments. It's also a step in the right direction; Mayor Miller wants to bump up our garbage diversion rate (from landfills) from 42% to 70% by they year 2010.
I have a feeling there will be a lot of angry homeowners out there, who will see this simply as more money they have to pay out with no automatic compensation (the estimated increase is $62). But once the plan is in place, I think the forced limitations on garbage production will open their eyes to a different lifestyle; one that finally strays from the consumerist gluttony we all experienced in the 80s and 90s. It still shocks me when I hear some people are not recycling.
Other criticisms include the "headache implementation will cause" and the fact that the bins are ugly and big. Come on. Isn't everything to do with city council a headache? And you're putting your GARBAGE into these bins, not some flowers, or some punch. It doesn't need to be pretty, it just needs to be effective.
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Also, do residences that operate home businesses get a break?
So many questions...
My biggest question was how homeowners could switch their bin size, should they find they're throwing more or less than they originally expected. I'm pretty sure families will receive a mid-size bin to start off with, and they'll be able to try that out for a month.
I don't think they'll be able to tally each week's garbage... but I think that, in general, a family will produce the same amount of garbage week to week. I throw out less than one bag every two weeks, but that's just me on my own. It's pretty consistent though.
It would be interesting to find out if home businesses would get a tax break on this. I'm sure that will addressed in the future. It might be worth taking a look how that works in the other cities that are already running this program successfully- San Fran and Vancouver.
I pay taxes, I recycle voluntarily (both using the bins and just plain old reusing things), and I expect the city to keep itself clean with the money they take out of my pockets. This, is bullshit.
The ability to recycle LDPE and polystyrene must in my opinion be available before this is enforced. In the R-s "reduce" is somewhat more of a producer than a consumer issue so takeback bylaws should also be there before imposing this.
One last thing - what do we do with our existing garbage cans since we must now use the standard city bin - are they to be landfilled? We'll probably give ours to friends in other jurisdictions still using existing bins, or use them for temp storage during the Christmas season when there tends to be more garbage but still!
If the city was serious about reducing waste they would also be focusing on business. They would be examining our grocery stores, our fast food chains and coffee shops, and forcing them to rethink they're packaging and practices. But the line between city hall and business is blurred at best. And businesses don't just sit back and take increased taxes and costs with a mumble under the breatj the way us humble folks do.
Also I'd like to know how they are going to get the garbage men to pick up a 360L bin, the ones in my neighbourhood don't even pick up our green bin if it's over 2/3s full!
Who is actually producing more garbage, us, or the companies that wrap, seal, box, tape, wrap again, staple, staple, staple, ouch, dammit, more plastic....what now, styrofoam?
The estimated increase of $62 takes into account the current $209 garbage collection fee that will be taken off your property taxes, plus the new fee which will be added to your water bill. $62 is the average increase, though... some will see less, some will see more.
I still think this program will help. There are so many people out there that don't recycle and don't compost at all, and we're all suffering for it. Individuals need to be made accountable, and the universal language is money. It's kinda like a "push come to shove" sort of deal, I think. Now, if only they'd give those pesky corporations a little shove, too...
In my city there are three available bin sizes: 60L, 120L, and 240L. Each household receives a grey bin for garbage and a green bin for GFT (vegetable, fruit, and garden) waste. Each bin is emptied once every two weeks. Our household (two people) has 60L bins, and they've never been too small.
For grey bin waste, you pay a fee to have the bin emptied (�0,65 for the 120L bin) plus �0,15/kg of waste.
There isn't any 'emptying fee' for the green bins, but you do pay �0,10/kg for the contents.
How do they figure out what everybody owes? When you move in to the city, you pre-pay �30 towards your pickup charges. Every bin has a microchip in it, and the bins are weighed when the truck picks them up to be emptied.
There are special blue bags for plastic bottles, metal cans, and tetrapak style packaging. The bags cost about �0,75/each (for the bag plus the collection fee). These are picked up at the same time as the green bin.
Paper and cardboard is picked up once per month, and glass needs to be taken to special 'glasbak' containers located across the city. Other recyclable materials (styrofoam, other plastic packaging, etc.) can be collected at home and taken to a recycling centre.
Of course, this is more complicated than the garbage/blue bin/grey bin system I was used to when I lived in Brampton, but it does seem to work, and the tariff system seems fair.
We need to start looking at the true cost of all this stuff, and start making some real changes in our lifestyles, these half measures just aren't enough.