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Recycling Issues
(03-23-2023, 05:06 PM)dtkvictim Wrote:
(03-23-2023, 04:15 PM)danbrotherston Wrote: 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.

Ahh...yeah, that doesn't seem ideal. FWIW here we do have the "centralized" curbside collection for compost and recycling, but we only have to wheel the bins out of the alley to our street and the bins are very large bins provided by the municipality (they use the claw arm garbage truck to collect them). If your waste doesn't fit in the bin, take it elsewhere or dispose of it next month. Altogether, not a major issue, as we'd never have to make multiple trips. And the farthest anyone has to walk is 100 meters.
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(03-23-2023, 12:46 PM)ijmorlan Wrote:
(03-22-2023, 05:17 PM)neonjoe Wrote: 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.

There will still be some kind of centralized program, yes. It should be synchronized with the Region's program for residents' convenience. The exact physical workings of that (squat open bins like now, or closed wheeled bins like the region will be using, or something else) are yet to be determined.
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(03-23-2023, 12:46 PM)ijmorlan Wrote:
(03-22-2023, 05:17 PM)neonjoe Wrote: 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.

Indeed, there will still be a recycling program, but it'll be the collective responsibility of the producers (kind of like Beer Store). They will outsource the operation to a local company in each region, kind of like our region does today, but with provincial standards for what is recyclable and what is not.
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The last I read (sometime in 2022) was that producers and environmentalists (among others) both agreed that the system coming down the pipes was a terrible system that wasn't going to work. Congratulations to the province for uniting two disparate groups. There was hope in 2022 that the system might be changed before it has to take effect.
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Given the number of 40+ storey towers in various stages of proposal/approval/construction in Kitchener, I am wondering about impact on waste management, organic waste in particular. The hue and cry about extending the lifespan of our landfill and achieving waste diversion seems at odds with the lack of organics collection options in multi-residential buildings. I'm a tenant in a large complex and have, for five years, been creeping out under cover of darkness along side streets to put our kitchen scraps in one of the neighbourhood green bins. A while back, I called the Region to ask if there is any kind of central or public collection option for people in my predicament, and was told I was doing what they'd recommend anyway, only maybe approach a homeowner and personally ask to use their green bin instead of the stealth approach. Or, if I was inclined, I could pay $12 to personally take my organics to the landfill, if home composting wasn't feasible. This is a lot of rigmarole that I know the average tenant in a multi-residential building would be unwilling to take on, and going by the stench of the garbage molok at my building alone, there is a lot of organic waste being unnecessarily dumped in whatever landfill our stuff is carted to. And now, I see the potentially thousands of occupants of new high-rise towers contributing to the issue.
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(07-14-2023, 03:14 PM)Silie Wrote: Given the number of 40+ storey towers in various stages of proposal/approval/construction in Kitchener, I am wondering about impact on waste management, organic waste in particular. The hue and cry about extending the lifespan of our landfill and achieving waste diversion seems at odds with the lack of organics collection options in multi-residential buildings. I'm a tenant in a large complex and have, for five years, been creeping out under cover of darkness along side streets to put our kitchen scraps in one of the neighbourhood green bins. A while back, I called the Region to ask if there is any kind of central or public collection option for people in my predicament, and was told I was doing what they'd recommend anyway, only maybe approach a homeowner and personally ask to use their green bin instead of the stealth approach. Or, if I was inclined, I could pay $12 to personally take my organics to the landfill, if home composting wasn't feasible. This is a lot of rigmarole that I know the average tenant in a multi-residential building would be unwilling to take on, and going by the stench of the garbage molok at my building alone, there is a lot of organic waste being unnecessarily dumped in whatever landfill our stuff is carted to. And now, I see the potentially thousands of occupants of new high-rise towers contributing to the issue.

FWIW....the region isn't particularly concerned with large multi-tenant building waste collection as that is required to be done by private contractors. You (through condo fees or rent) pay directly for a private waste removal company to collect your buildings waste.

And yes, that does mean you pay twice for garbage because you pay taxes which pay for everyone elses garbage removal.

And even better, a few years ago the region decided to save a buck by removing the garbage rebate that they paid to multi-tenant buildings which compensated for that double payment...

And no, it didn't get a lot of press despite two of us on this forum going to tell region council exactly how stupid an idea that was.

But....much like the NIMBYs the represent, council doesn't really care much about the residents of multi-tenant buildings. They are a good economic driver to help keep taxes low, but ultimately they represent single family homeowners and businesses.
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(07-14-2023, 03:14 PM)Silie Wrote: Given the number of 40+ storey towers in various stages of proposal/approval/construction in Kitchener, I am wondering about impact on waste management, organic waste in particular. The hue and cry about extending the lifespan of our landfill and achieving waste diversion seems at odds with the lack of organics collection options in multi-residential buildings. I'm a tenant in a large complex and have, for five years, been creeping out under cover of darkness along side streets to put our kitchen scraps in one of the neighbourhood green bins. (...)

You (together with the other residents) should lobby the landlord or condo board (depending on the type of building) to implement green bin collection. Our building has had green bins for about three years now. Yes, they habe an incremental cost, but there is also the tangible benefit of reducing the garbage volume (and the occasional garbage chute back-ups due to an overflowing garbage bin).
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(07-15-2023, 01:51 PM)tomh009 Wrote:
(07-14-2023, 03:14 PM)Silie Wrote: Given the number of 40+ storey towers in various stages of proposal/approval/construction in Kitchener, I am wondering about impact on waste management, organic waste in particular. The hue and cry about extending the lifespan of our landfill and achieving waste diversion seems at odds with the lack of organics collection options in multi-residential buildings. I'm a tenant in a large complex and have, for five years, been creeping out under cover of darkness along side streets to put our kitchen scraps in one of the neighbourhood green bins. (...)

You (together with the other residents) should lobby the landlord or condo board (depending on the type of building) to implement green bin collection. Our building has had green bins for about three years now. Yes, they habe an incremental cost, but there is also the tangible benefit of reducing the garbage volume (and the occasional garbage chute back-ups due to an overflowing garbage bin).

In my small building, the building manager has had to post a notice complaining about residents (probably new tenants) putting their garbage in the recycling bins. The garbage is supposed to go into a big bin at the end of the parking lot. Next to it is a bin marked cardboard only. I see a lot of cardboard going into the garbage bin, including from contractors installing new appliances or whatever. I don't know how tenants will be persuaded to separate their organics as well. I lived in a house which I shared with a couple of other people, and getting the others to properly use the green bin was difficult.
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I'm in 40 unit building, with garbage chutes. There are bins in the parking garage for glass/plastic, paper/cardboard, and compostables. The compostables (only) are picked up by the City of Ottawa.
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(07-15-2023, 06:18 PM)panamaniac Wrote: I'm in 40 unit building, with garbage chutes.  There are bins in the parking garage for glass/plastic, paper/cardboard, and compostables.  The compostables (only) are picked up by the City of Ottawa.

Same setup in our building (which you know well, I think), except that we need to pay the waste contractor to handle to compostables.
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(07-15-2023, 06:12 PM)Acitta Wrote: In my small building, the building manager has had to post a notice complaining about residents (probably new tenants) putting their garbage in the recycling bins. The garbage is supposed to go into a big bin at the end of the parking lot. Next to it is a bin marked cardboard only. I see a lot of cardboard going into the garbage bin, including from contractors installing new appliances or whatever. I don't know how tenants will be persuaded to separate their organics as well. I lived in a house which I shared with a couple of other people, and getting the others to properly use the green bin was difficult.

Yeah, contamination of recycling bins is a recurring problem. Everywhere, I expect. Alas, as I have now come to recognize, you can't fix stupid. Sad
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It's recently been coming up in the news here that NZers think that recycling is the top thing they can do about climate change but there was a 2020 study that ranked it #60 (https://www.newsroom.co.nz/kiwis-still-d...hange-poll). Still useful to reduce landfill pressure and methane emissions, and we should do all the things, but there are more impactful things.
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(07-16-2023, 11:17 PM)plam Wrote: It's recently been coming up in the news here that NZers think that recycling is the top thing they can do about climate change but there was a 2020 study that ranked it #60 (https://www.newsroom.co.nz/kiwis-still-d...hange-poll). Still useful to reduce landfill pressure and methane emissions, and we should do all the things, but there are more impactful things.

The top thing for climate change. Really. Ugh. The O&G companies are winning this aren’t they.
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(07-16-2023, 11:17 PM)plam Wrote: It's recently been coming up in the news here that NZers think that recycling is the top thing they can do about climate change but there was a 2020 study that ranked it #60 (https://www.newsroom.co.nz/kiwis-still-d...hange-poll). Still useful to reduce landfill pressure and methane emissions, and we should do all the things, but there are more impactful things.

Recycling plastics will reduce the amount of microplastics in the environment. Not a climate change impact as such, but there is certainly an environmental benefit.
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(07-17-2023, 12:45 PM)tomh009 Wrote:
(07-16-2023, 11:17 PM)plam Wrote: It's recently been coming up in the news here that NZers think that recycling is the top thing they can do about climate change but there was a 2020 study that ranked it #60 (https://www.newsroom.co.nz/kiwis-still-d...hange-poll). Still useful to reduce landfill pressure and methane emissions, and we should do all the things, but there are more impactful things.

Recycling plastics will reduce the amount of microplastics in the environment. Not a climate change impact as such, but there is certainly an environmental benefit.

Hmm, does it, or are the recycled plastics (and the narrow range of recyclable plastics doesn't help) also going to shed microplastics? Also from clothing and stupid things like microbeads in beauty products.
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