Recycling Issues

[numberguy]

Tags/bag limits, and dump everything to MI like the GTA does. It's cheaper and there are no local landfill issues.

Sure, it's not environmentally the best, but the other local cities do (to a large extent). And Northern MI isn't running out of space anytime soon, in fact, they market quite aggressively.

[BuildingScout]

In other words, a house with a single widowed person has the same garbage allotment than a family of five: mom, dad and three kids ages nine, eleven and thirteen.

Are they really considering this as a reasonable policy?

[taylortbb]

Option 1 seems reasonable to me, we need to get green bin usage up.

I'd actually say that it's reasonable to do what Toronto does, where there's green bin pickup every week but recycling and garbage are done on alternating weeks. They also issue standard size bins, and if you take a smaller one you get an annual refund, or you can take a jumbo one for an annual fee. Fees apply for anything beyond the bin you've paid for.

[mpd618]

I think any kind of bag tag or limit system is overkill and the complexity and weird incentives are not worth it. But doing weekly green bin and recycling, and garbage every other week is a no-brainer.

[numberguy]

In other words, a house with a single widowed person has the same garbage allotment than a family of five: mom, dad and three kids ages nine, eleven and thirteen.

Are they really considering this as a reasonable policy?

I don't know if "they" are considering it, but yes, it is reasonable policy. The incremental cost of a stop is almost the same for a 1 family house as it is for a 5 family house with a bag limit.

Hamilton, Guelph, etc, all have limits. Waterloo Region has a Cadillac service.

Send it all to Michigan like Toronto does. It would be cheaper and cause less grief in the 519.

[BuildingScout]

I don't know if "they" are considering it, but yes, it is reasonable policy.   The incremental cost of a stop is almost the same for a 1 family house as it is for a 5 family house with a bag limit.

I'm missing the connection here. In what way does the incremental cost of a stop justifies having/not having a bag limit?

[Viewfromthe42]

On the incremental cost, keep in mind that multi-unit dwellings like my 55 unit, they all have to pay for green bin service as an extra feature, despite it being one stop for 55 units of pickup. Many places, sadly mine included, decide not to do green bin for this very reason.

Now, I also hear that all multi-unit dwellings will have to pay for green bin, AND recycling, AND garbage. A cash cow that won't fight back?

[MidTowner]

In other words, a house with a single widowed person has the same garbage allotment than a family of five: mom, dad and three kids ages nine, eleven and thirteen.

Are they really considering this as a reasonable policy?

It's common in jurisdictions with limits to have some set of exemptions for families with children, or people who through no fault of their own (maybe a medical condition that requires a lot of material) produce more waste than the average. In Hamilton, for instance, there is a "special exemption" for families with more than one child under the age of four. Your example would be subject to the same bag limits (which I don't think would be exactly onerous), but some households would likely be able to have limits waived.

I'm not sure about this, myself. Why should my family's waste collection be subsidized by the widow in your example? I chose to have kids, so I'm not sure why I should not be paying for extra bag tags if I can't find a way to reduce the waste they produce.

I think that the biweekly collection makes good sense, personally. I think the most-anticipated complaint to that is that "garbage will start smelling" within the two weeks, but our green bin service is very good- most everything is collected, including pet waste, which is not true in some other jurisdictions. There is no longer much excuse for throwing any organic waste in the landfill stream. In Vancouver, that will soon no longer be acceptable at all, and it shouldn't be here, either, after having the green bin for a few years.

[clasher]

Bi-weeky collection might really stink for people that throw out diapers, but I imagine it would still reek even with weekly collection in the warmer months. My 2.5 people household throws out a grocery bag or two at most, aside from crinkly plastic a lot of stuff is recyclable and everything organic is disposed of in my backyard compost. I lived in St.Catherines for a while and they had bag-tags but I don't recall a big problem with dumping in the countryside or on trails, but I rented in a really rich neighbourhood so that probably skewed things a lot.

I think that getting restaurants, florists and other places that generate a lot more organic waste into the green bin program would really help. When I worked at a large local restaurant we threw out staggering amounts of food, and most of the packaging for the food was recyclable. Most bigger commercial places pay for private garbage hauling so I don't know how that would work out, but small restaurants downtown seem to just use curbside pickup so there is room to expand green bin operations.

[numberguy]

I don't know if "they" are considering it, but yes, it is reasonable policy.   The incremental cost of a stop is almost the same for a 1 family house as it is for a 5 family house with a bag limit.

I'm missing the connection here. In what way does the incremental cost of a stop justifies having/not having a bag limit?

There are two large components of waste management costs:
a) Landfill costs
b) Collection costs

(b) is the same for a 1 person house as it is for a 5 person house, essentially
(a) will be higher, but the tags/bag limit is meant to capture that incremental cost to some degree

(a) can be mitigated by adopting the same strategy as the GTA uses, which is to ship it to Michigan, who will willing take it for far cheaper than doing it ourselves

[MidTowner]

Toronto garbage actually isn't hauled to Michigan any longer. It's now all accommodated by the Green Lane facility just south of London. That's the better part of a million tonnes a year that goes there (I only know this because I happen to be a Londoner originally, and a lot of Londoners aren't happy about this arrangement.)

Does the Region of Waterloo have a climate change strategy? I wonder how a plan to transport our waste hundreds of kilometres by truck to methane-spewing landfills in other jurisdictions would mesh with it.

[mpd618]

Does the Region of Waterloo have a climate change strategy? I wonder how a plan to transport our waste hundreds of kilometres by truck to methane-spewing landfills in other jurisdictions would mesh with it.

I believe the financial and environmental cost of trucking waste outside the Region was considered in their most recent Waste Management Master Plan, as was the cost to open a new landfill. That plan recommended thermal treatment to process residual waste.

[numberguy]

Does the Region of Waterloo have a climate change strategy? I wonder how a plan to transport our waste hundreds of kilometres by truck to methane-spewing landfills in other jurisdictions would mesh with it.

I believe the financial and environmental cost of trucking waste outside the Region was considered in their most recent Waste Management Master Plan, as was the cost to open a new landfill. That plan recommended thermal treatment to process residual waste.

Isn't thermal treatment just another way of saying incinerator? Cue the cacophony of NIMBY protests, jk.

Would it be cheaper to outsource the landfill function to the private sector? The rates charged by Waste Management for commercial waste pickup are cheaper than what the Region charges. Would it stand to reason that their residential rates would be cheaper?

[MidTowner]

[quote pid='6589' dateline='1429022703']

Isn't thermal treatment just another way of saying incinerator?    Cue the cacophony of NIMBY protests, jk.

[/quote]

Unfortunately, you're right. In spite of overwhelming scientific evidence, and the fact that small-scale waste-to-power incinerators have operated for years safely in other parts of the world, NIMBYism would be a huge headwind for them here. They're trying to get one approved in Hamilton, and the community is not surprisingly opposed.

[YKF]

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.