Recycling Issues

[MidTowner]

From the Record: Waterloo Region sees 'significant jump' in green bin use
June collection was 2,000 tonnes, and 9,200 tonnes year-to-date. That should put us on track to meet the 20,000 tonne estimate this year, given that the new rules didn't start until March.

[Pheidippides]

Green bin use is up so much that the region is projecting that they will have to find other processors to take the excess.

"The Region’s green bin organics are consolidated at the Cambridge and Waterloo waste management sites and transferred to the City of Guelph’s organics waste management facility in accordance with a ten year contract that expires in October 2023 (with two optional five year extensions). Under this contract, the Region is guaranteed 20,000 tonnes of processing capacity annually. As noted previously, we are anticipating exceeding the 20,000 tonne annual threshold in 2017, likely falling somewhere in the range of 500 to 2,000 tonnes of additional green bin organics by year end."

"In discussions with the City of Guelph, they are presently unable to accept additional green bin material in excess of the 20,000 tonnes they are contractually obligated to receive in 2017 due to processing capacity constraints. Therefore, as a short term measure, staff have secured capacity with two (2) processors; namely, Bio-En Power Inc. (Elmira, ON) and All-Treat Farms (Arthur, ON) to accommodate green bin tonnage in excess of 20,000 tonnes on an as-required basis to the end of 2017. Similar to Guelph, both of these processors operate in accordance with applicable Provincial regulatory criteria and produce a high quality soil amendment for use primarily on agricultural fields."

"Staff have commenced a review of a number of options for 2018 and beyond including discussions with a number of organics processing facilities/vendors to determine capacity availability as well as
continued dialogue/meetings with the City of Guelph to determine if, how and under what terms and conditions the Region can potentially secure additional capacity at the Guelph processing facility beyond the 20,000 tonnes already committed."

[tomh009]

Fantastic! Now we just need to get multi-residential buildings (and restaurants) into the program ...

[nms]

According to the City of Guelph, their facility can process 30,000 tonnes of material each year.  Currently, Guelph produces 10,000/year with the expectation that it will grow to 16,000. They contracted with the Region of Waterloo to use the 20,000 tonnes in excess capacity.  I'm not sure what their plan was if the Guelph usage grew and while they were still committed to taking the Region of Waterloo's material.

I also know that they apparently rented the excess capacity to another customer when initially the Region of Waterloo didn't provide enough organic waste.

[Coke6pk]

According to the City of Guelph, their facility can process 30,000 tonnes of material each year.  Currently, Guelph produces 10,000/year with the expectation that it will grow to 16,000. They contracted with the Region of Waterloo to use the 20,000 tonnes in excess capacity.  I'm not sure what their plan was if the Guelph usage grew and while they were still committed to taking the Region of Waterloo's material.

I also know that they apparently rented the excess capacity to another customer when initially the Region of Waterloo didn't provide enough organic waste.

Storage lockers?

Coke

[Pheidippides]

Contract for processing 3,000 additional metric tonnes of green bin material to be awarded.

"That the Regional Municipality of Waterloo accept the tender of Walker Environmental Group Inc. for T2017-240 Processing of Incremental Green Bin Materials for a contract period of three (3) years commencing March 1, 2018 to February 28, 2021 with the option to renew for three (3) additional one (1) year periods..."

[KevinL]

Big changes coming to garbage collection in Waterloo Region

Beginning in March 2026, garbage and waste from the green bin will be collected at the curb with automated carts, said Olivia Kwok, a waste management supervisor at the Region of Waterloo.

“Residents will roll out garbage and organic carts to the curb where they set their waste now and then instead of a staff member manually by hand, lifting the materials and putting it in the truck, a robotic or mechanical arm will lift and empty the cart contents into the truck,” Kwok said in an interview Tuesday.

This is separate from recycling, which will be no longer the Region's remit by then.

[danbrotherston]

Big changes coming to garbage collection in Waterloo Region

Beginning in March 2026, garbage and waste from the green bin will be collected at the curb with automated carts, said Olivia Kwok, a waste management supervisor at the Region of Waterloo.

“Residents will roll out garbage and organic carts to the curb where they set their waste now and then instead of a staff member manually by hand, lifting the materials and putting it in the truck, a robotic or mechanical arm will lift and empty the cart contents into the truck,” Kwok said in an interview Tuesday.

This is separate from recycling, which will be no longer the Region's remit by then.

FWIW...the Netherlands (or at least Rova, which collects waste where I live) does this for most items.

We have a "PMW" bin for plastics, metal, and "drankenkartons" (like wax lined tetrapack), a green bin for food and yard waste, and a blue bin for paper and cardboard.

Those are collected monthly (or bi-weekly for green bin). They are pretty large so this is only a problem if you're moving in and have tons of cardboard. And bins must be rolled to a position that is accessible by the collection truck, sometimes this is the end of the block since our roads are small.

For everything else which is literally referred to as "remainder" we have an underground receptacle at the end of the block with card access. It's kind of strange to have "remainder" and recycling collected differently.

There are also collection bins around the city for glass (sorted by color), textiles, and a depot for hazardous household wastes.

But it's also common in other parts of Ontario. My parents had this bin system in St. Marys for recycling and garbage. Seems like an obvious way to reduce costs (and some of our trucks are even electric).

Again, it's weird to have both a centralized bin for collection (for garbage) and also individual container collection (for recycling and green bin), but I think the centralized collection doesn't scale well to many types of sorted containers. Requiring bins to be moved to an accessible location is a reasonable efficiency improvement as well as a way of removing the "this road must be wide enough for a garbage truck" justification for dangerous roads.

[ijmorlan]

This is separate from recycling, which will be no longer the Region's remit by then.

Who else would do recycling?

[neonjoe]

This is separate from recycling, which will be no longer the Region's remit by then.

Who else would do recycling?

The Ontario government mandated that the producers of the materials now have to manage the recycling. They already added fees to the packaging for this.

[ijmorlan]

Who else would do recycling?

The Ontario government mandated that the producers of the materials now have to manage the recycling. They already added fees to the packaging for this.

I don’t get it. So I generate a big pile of cans, jars, paper, etc. at my house. What will happen to it?

I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that some government program, probably administered by the Region, will still be collecting blue boxes (or rolling carts, picked up by a mechnical arm?). The difference will be that big producers of recyclable materials will help support the system.

Are you aware of different plans? I’ll go out on another, this one extremely sturdy, limb and confidently proclaim that we will never have a situation where each manufacturer sends a truck around to pick up their stuff.

[neonjoe]

Here's the news release for the bill...

https://news.ontario.ca/en/release/10002...ox-program

[dtkvictim]

For everything else which is literally referred to as "remainder" we have an underground receptacle at the end of the block with card access. It's kind of strange to have "remainder" and recycling collected differently.

My block is served by underground garbage and cardboard cycling. Card access would be nice, because right now it's heavily abused. My understanding is that it's paid for by the local businesses and for their/the blocks use (I know at least my landlord pays for it). I can watch it throughout the day and night, and probably 50+ vehicles pull up each day to dump garbage - business vehicles, personal vehicles, work vans... The most frustrating part is how many of them dump their garbage outside of the underground bins when they aren't even close to full, meaning the waste management workers have to manually pick it all up and causes garbage to blow around my neighbourhood.

Does the Netherlands not charge for excessive waste like we do here? How do they keep track of that if many/most people are served by underground bins? I suppose the cards could keep track of weight added to the bins, if they are advanced enough?

Again, it's weird to have both a centralized bin for collection (for garbage) and also individual container collection (for recycling and green bin), but I think the centralized collection doesn't scale well to many types of sorted containers. Requiring bins to be moved to an accessible location is a reasonable efficiency improvement as well as a way of removing the "this road must be wide enough for a garbage truck" justification for dangerous roads.

I lived in a large townhouse complex once which had weekly garbage collection from a central location, and it sucked. Carrying a week's worth of waste a several minute walk away (garbage was taken out in bags), sometimes making multiple trips. And good luck getting your recycling and compost bin back from the hundred others in your shared pickup location.

[danbrotherston]

For everything else which is literally referred to as "remainder" we have an underground receptacle at the end of the block with card access. It's kind of strange to have "remainder" and recycling collected differently.

My block is served by underground garbage and cardboard cycling. Card access would be nice, because right now it's heavily abused. My understanding is that it's paid for by the local businesses and for their/the blocks use (I know at least my landlord pays for it). I can watch it throughout the day and night, and probably 50+ vehicles pull up each day to dump garbage - business vehicles, personal vehicles, work vans... The most frustrating part is how many of them dump their garbage outside of the underground bins when they aren't even close to full, meaning the waste management workers have to manually pick it all up and causes garbage to blow around my neighbourhood.

Does the Netherlands not charge for excessive waste like we do here? How do they keep track of that if many/most people are served by underground bins? I suppose the cards could keep track of weight added to the bins, if they are advanced enough?

As far as I can tell, they do not charge based on how much you throw out. Since they are not billing for usage I don't understand the need for the (no doubt expensive) card system, since all residents can use the bins illegal dumping is effectively impossible. Perhaps the plan, long term, is to bill for usage.

I don't think the bin would need to weigh the garbage, they could simply bill based on the number of "swipes" you do...this isn't meaningfully different than KW charging for the number of bags you have (you can fill bags more or less, same as you can dump more or less in one swipe).

They do seem to have central bins for recycling and greenbins at larger apartment buildings and ironically, those bins are not locked.

Again, it's weird to have both a centralized bin for collection (for garbage) and also individual container collection (for recycling and green bin), but I think the centralized collection doesn't scale well to many types of sorted containers. Requiring bins to be moved to an accessible location is a reasonable efficiency improvement as well as a way of removing the "this road must be wide enough for a garbage truck" justification for dangerous roads.

I lived in a large townhouse complex once which had weekly garbage collection from a central location, and it sucked. Carrying a week's worth of waste a several minute walk away (garbage was taken out in bags), sometimes making multiple trips. And good luck getting your recycling and compost bin back from the hundred others in your shared pickup location.

Why do you let your garbage pile up for a week? I take a bag to the bin maybe 2-3 times a week. In fact, it's the main benefit--I don't have to store garbage in my home. Also, how far away was the bin? I live in a "large" complex as well, but the very farthest anyone would ever have to walk is <200 meters or around 2 minutes.

[dtkvictim]

I lived in a large townhouse complex once which had weekly garbage collection from a central location, and it sucked. Carrying a week's worth of waste a several minute walk away (garbage was taken out in bags), sometimes making multiple trips. And good luck getting your recycling and compost bin back from the hundred others in your shared pickup location.

Why do you let your garbage pile up for a week? I take a bag to the bin maybe 2-3 times a week. In fact, it's the main benefit--I don't have to store garbage in my home. Also, how far away was the bin? I live in a "large" complex as well, but the very farthest anyone would ever have to walk is <200 meters or around 2 minutes.

To clarify, this townhouse complex didn't have underground bins. It was a centralized curbside collection once per week, so you couldn't bring your trash out as needed. There were no wheelie bins for garbage, so it was carrying bags out probably around 200m. It wasn't the end of the world, it was just annoying. Plus everyone losing their recycling bins in the mix every week. This was not in KW btw.

With the underground disposal that I have now, I take out my garbage immediately when it gets full, and it is indeed great. Better than curbside collection even if it's directly in front of your house.