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Recycling Issues
#31
The problem with bi-weekly collection is that if you are away for any reason on your collection day, you have to go  four weeks between collections. 
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#32
(04-14-2015, 07:22 PM)YKF Wrote: I read through the report and I'm hoping that Council will go with the first option - bi-weekly garbage collection. I don't think it makes much sense to impose a 2 bags/house/week limit with the intention of seriously diverting waste from the landfill when the average number of bags thrown out/house/week is already below that. Even though the bi-weekly bag limit is at 4, it'll motivate people to use the green bin to get rid of their organics.

Waterloo Region has always been a progressive on major issues (urban planning and transit among others). Waste management shouldn't be any different.

I haven't read through the report. But imposing 2 bags/house/week could still help depending on the distribution. If 80% of people have 1 bag and 20% of people have 3 bags we'd still notice a decline, although not as significant as getting everyone to lower their usage.
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#33
In an ideal world that wouldn't be an issue, as organics (garbage that actually smells) would still be collected weekly. I wonder what waste audits would reveal with respect to what % of waste generated by residents can't be recycled or green binned.
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#34
(04-14-2015, 07:22 PM)YKF Wrote: I read through the report and I'm hoping that Council will go with the first option - bi-weekly garbage collection. I don't think it makes much sense to impose a 2 bags/house/week limit with the intention of seriously diverting waste from the landfill when the average number of bags thrown out/house/week is already below that. Even though the bi-weekly bag limit is at 4, it'll motivate people to use the green bin to get rid of their organics.

Waterloo Region has always been a progressive on major issues (urban planning and transit among others). Waste management shouldn't be any different.

Please define progressive.
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#35
(04-14-2015, 10:10 PM)YKF Wrote: In an ideal world that wouldn't be an issue, as organics (garbage that actually smells) would still be collected weekly. I wonder what waste audits would reveal with respect to what % of waste generated by residents can't be recycled or green binned.

Reports show that our landfill has ~20 years of life left. If you look at the Waste WR twitter account, you'll see some recent numbers about audits: just 1/3 of garbage is actually garbage, 2/3 are recycling or organics. If people would properly sort their waste, the landfill would have ~60 years of life instead of 20, and we'd have the $150,000,000+ cost of a new incinerator/landfill/etc multiple generations down the line instead of right around the corner.

Next time someone says "why'd we waste $253 million on LRT to move tens of thousands of people a day?" just answer "because we're wasting $150 million because you won't sort your garbage."
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#36
I've mentioned this before, but many in high rise apartments don't have the option of using a green bin. I would say at least 40-50% of our waste could be put in a green bin and it would make me feel less wasteful, but until I can afford a house or the region expands the program, this is the only practical option.
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#37
The region could also start using automated sorting machines on all the garbage and collect more of those unsorted amounts. There's a lot of videos on youtube showing how these machines work and they're used all over the world.
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#38
(04-15-2015, 09:05 AM)clasher Wrote: The region could also start using automated sorting machines on all the garbage and collect more of those unsorted amounts. There's a lot of videos on youtube showing how these machines work and they're used all over the world.

Then the Region would be picking a fight with a union. And we all know the Region doesn't do that.
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#39
I think garbage bag limits are feel-good schemes of limited effectiveness. Looking at statistics from similar programs in other cities they have a marginal impact in recycling rates. In contrast the big gains to be made in the RoW are: (1) compulsory participation in recycling schemes for apartments and condos (2) compulsory recycling of commercial waste (3) garbage sorting machines at the land fill to further clean classify the garbage stream.

Over 50% of the waste is commercial and little of it is recycled, particularly organics. That's where the big gains are.
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#40
(04-15-2015, 12:07 AM)numberguy Wrote:
(04-14-2015, 07:22 PM)YKF Wrote: I read through the report and I'm hoping that Council will go with the first option - bi-weekly garbage collection. I don't think it makes much sense to impose a 2 bags/house/week limit with the intention of seriously diverting waste from the landfill when the average number of bags thrown out/house/week is already below that. Even though the bi-weekly bag limit is at 4, it'll motivate people to use the green bin to get rid of their organics.

Waterloo Region has always been a progressive on major issues (urban planning and transit among others). Waste management shouldn't be any different.

Please define progressive.

In saying Waterloo Region has been progressive on many issues, I meant that local government have, for the most part, had the courage/foresight to proceed with many projects that were contentious at the time they were implemented (Conestoga Parkway, investing in rapid transit, imposing an urban growth boundary) but were meant to improve the quality of life for future generations. I guess the term "progressive" is largely subjective based on the person's views on various issues.
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#41
(04-15-2015, 09:13 AM)numberguy Wrote:
(04-15-2015, 09:05 AM)clasher Wrote: The region could also start using automated sorting machines on all the garbage and collect more of those unsorted amounts. There's a lot of videos on youtube showing how these machines work and they're used all over the world.

Then the Region would be picking a fight with a union. And we all know the Region doesn't do that.

You know they outsourced garbage collection to Waste Management, right? From what I can find it doesn't seem like they are unionized in Waterloo Region. Even so, it would be entirely possible to start using machines to shred and sort incoming garbage while maintaining the current sorting system for incoming recycling and letting those people's contracts expire without having to "bust" any union and slowly transition it all to machines.
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#42
(04-15-2015, 09:37 AM)BuildingScout Wrote: Over 50% of the waste is commercial and little of it is recycled, particularly organics. That's where the big gains are.

Most of my workplaces have recycling bins.   With the exception of 2, the cleaners dump the recycled items into the garbage.   Is it worth it (all in, including collection emissions etc) to recycle glass, paper, organics, etc? Metal is, always. Plastics, sometimes. But the rest, no.

If one imposes mandatory recycling laws locally, I suspect that commercial businesses would choose not to do business in your locality.   Look at the high cost of electricity and labour locally and see what is happening to the auto manufacturing business.   Soon, Canada will be like Australia and not have any cars manufactured here.   Unless you are a California (high purchasing power/population), mandating extra costs (or even capturing externalities) will result in an exodus of business.
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#43
(04-15-2015, 10:09 AM)YKF Wrote:
(04-15-2015, 12:07 AM)numberguy Wrote: Please define progressive.

In saying Waterloo Region has been progressive on many issues, I meant that local government have, for the most part, had the courage/foresight to proceed with many projects that were contentious at the time they were implemented (Conestoga Parkway, investing in rapid transit, imposing an urban growth boundary) but were meant to improve the quality of life for future generations. I guess the term "progressive" is largely subjective based on the person's views on various issues.

I think the RoW has indeed been progressive and forward looking. This was countenanced by the City councils which are anything but. Compare for example the dismal quality of transit while it was Kitchener Transit, and the amazing turnaround the moment RoW took over.

For the last ten years Kitchener and Waterloo city councils have come up to speed a bit, but they still have a ways to go.
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#44
(04-15-2015, 12:29 PM)numberguy Wrote:
(04-15-2015, 09:37 AM)BuildingScout Wrote: Over 50% of the waste is commercial and little of it is recycled, particularly organics. That's where the big gains are.

Most of my workplaces have recycling bins.   With the exception of 2, the cleaners dump the recycled items into the garbage.   Is it worth it (all in, including collection emissions etc) to recycle glass, paper, organics, etc?   Metal is, always.   Plastics, sometimes.   But the rest, no.

I looked it up and it seems the majority of the commercial stream is not recycled in Canada, particularly organics.
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#45
(04-15-2015, 12:29 PM)numberguy Wrote: If one imposes mandatory recycling laws locally, I suspect that commercial businesses would choose not to do business in your locality.   Look at the high cost of electricity and labour locally and see what is happening to the auto manufacturing business.   Soon, Canada will be like Australia and not have any cars manufactured here.   Unless you are a California (high purchasing power/population), mandating extra costs (or even capturing externalities) will result in an exodus of business.

I don't think that the Region is considering mandatory recycling laws, so that shouldn't be a problem. I also don't think that if such laws were implemented, it would be a make or break issue for commercial business. When I was in university, the restaurant I worked in contracted out organics collection, largely so that they could play the environmentally-friendly card amongst competitors (at a cost to the business).

Also, while the rising cost of electricity has increased, it is not a particularly large expense for most companies. Labour costs/union pressures are by far the largest expenses, which is why we've been seeing the migration of manufacturing to Mexico, China and even southern states like Tennessee and South Carolina (source: Industry Canada report from a few years ago). I would hope that wages would increase in those jurisdictions rather than have us compete in the "race to the bottom."  

We're getting off topic here.  Tongue
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