NEWS: Mr. Katz promotes rubbish

February 12, 2010
Winnipeg Free Press

Mr. Katz seems to have forgotten that modern metropolises are striving to reduce garbage and increase recycling by making it easier to recycle and harder and more expensive to produce waste.

There are probably some households that believe they need more capacity, but if they are using the service disproportionately, they should expect to pay more for it. As well, an annual fee, particularly if it is based on the cost of the increased service plus a penalty, will be a deterrent to those who are simply too lazy to sort the leftover sandwich from the empty soup can.

The mayor may believe his position will be popular with voters, but the evidence suggests the opposite. Winnipeggers have embraced recycling and it is not uncommon to see households with three or four blue boxes. Moreover, since the city introduced rolling, 240-litre carts in northwest Winnipeg recently, there have been only a few calls from homeowners wanting an extra bin for their garbage.

The city's proposed user fees for extra pickup -- $33 for a 360-litre cart, $93 for two 240-litre carts, or two large carts for $113 -- are based on the estimated cost of tipping fees, administrative costs, the cost of the cart and the cost of collection. In other words, the city merely wants to recoup its costs. It should, however, add a penalty fee as well to deter the lazy and to encourage people to change their habits.

The fairest and most effective system would see homeowners pay by weight in much the same way they pay for water, hydro and natural gas. With all the capabilities of modern technology, it would be relatively simple to weigh the garbage at the curb, file the information to a computer and dispatch a quarterly bill.

Most families should be able to squeeze all their garbage into the 240-litre carts and the planned introduction of 240-litre recycling bins should make it even easier to manage waste by allowing people to recycle more.

Some critics, the kind who can spot a loophole in every plan, have observed that garbage scofflaws will merely toss their extra waste into the recycling bin.

But the city currently finds only a small amount of waste in the blue boxes. Based on the experience of other cities, officials in Winnipeg expect the problem to increase only slightly with the introduction of recycling carts. The fact is, most people want to do the right thing. Other cities that introduced recycling carts, for example, observed that the volume of recycling went up significantly.

For those who insist on throwing their green garbage bags into the recycling, however, the new collection trucks have cameras in their hoppers. Regular abusers of the system will be detected and offered an education program.

Coun. Dan Vandal has legitimately complained that the rollout of the garbage and recycling plans has been a little haphazard. First, there were rolling garbage carts only. Then a yard waste plan and then a new recycling plan. But where, Mr. Vandal asks, is the overall strategy and what is the goal?

The answer is pretty simple -- reduce, reuse and recycle at an affordable price -- but the message has been lost in a jumble of separate announcements.

In response, the city says it has been forced to deal with the staggered contracts it has with the private sector, but it still seems that the vision and the plan could have been rolled out a little more smoothly.

There are bound to be problems and complaints as the city transitions from the old way of collecting garbage and reusables, but the worst thing the city could do would be to make it easier to generate waste and reduce recycling.

Mayor Katz needs to get with the program.

 

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