NEWS: Rein in trash beast

February 11, 2010
Winnipeg Sun

I don't know who is demanding the jumbo-sized rolling trash bins for the new automated garbage pickup.

But instead of super-sizing your bin, how about just recycling and composting more?

Turns out Winnipeggers recycled less last year than they did in 2008 - the first annual drop in 10 years.

And now they want bigger garbage bins?

Winnipeggers recycled 44,375 tonnes of trash in 2009, down from 45,560 tonnes of recyclables in 2008, according to recently released data from the city's solid waste department.

It's a small drop, but it's the first time since 1999 we've seen an annual decline in recycling in Winnipeg.

Not a good sign.

The city began rolling out its automated garbage pickup in the northwest part of Winnipeg last week.

And already, some homeowners are complaining that the 240-litre bins supplied by the city - the equivalent of three regular garbage cans - aren't big enough for the amount of weekly trash they throw out.

The city's public works committee quashed a proposal Tuesday to allow residents to trade in their rolling bins for larger, 360-litre ones for an annual fee. Good.

However, Mayor Sam Katz said Wednesday he would support a plan to offer larger bins to homeowners for a one-time fee.

I think that would be a mistake.

I agree with Coun. Dan Vandal that city hall should adopt a more aggressive waste minimization program, not hand out larger garbage bins so people can lazily dump whatever they want into our landfills.

Recent city data also shows Winnipeggers are tossing out more residential garbage again.

We threw out 230,916 tonnes of residential garbage in 2009, up slightly from 229,845 the year before.

It's the third straight year we've seen an increase in residential garbage tonnage, despite widely available recycling programs and initiatives like the city's leaf drop-off depots.

We're getting lazy.

And handing out 360-litre garbage bins - the equivalent of 4½ regular garbage cans - would only make matters worse.

Seriously, who the hell needs 4½ garbage cans a week for residential garbage?

I'll bet doughnuts to dollars whoever needs that many garbage cans - I don't care how many kids you have - isn't recycling and composting as much as they should.

In fact, I'll bet most of us are not recycling and composting as much as we should, myself included.

Which is why the 240-litre bins - which put a reasonable cap on how much trash we throw out each week - is a good idea.

Feeding the garbage beast with even larger bins provides no incentive to recycle and compost more.

It would only make us lazier and would do nothing to reverse the latest drop in recycling numbers.

We still recycle more today than we did five years ago.

Although per capita, with the city's small population growth, it's not that much more.

And the recent drop in recycling numbers is at least a troubling sign we're getting complacent again when it comes to waste minimization.

Which comes at a cost.

The city estimates, for example, we send more than $1 million worth of aluminium cans to the landfill every year that could be recycled.

Not only does that fill up our landfills faster, it's more expensive for taxpayers and it takes much-needed revenues away from the recycling program.

There's a business and an environmental side to this equation.

I say we nix the 360-litre, garbage-glutton bins. I'll bet we could survive without them.

For more, visit Brodbeck's blog Raise a Little Hell at winnipegsun.com. Reach Tom at 632-2742 or by e-mail at tom.brodbeck@sunmedia.ca.

 

Back to NEWS