Extra garbage bags in Calgary will require a tag starting Oct. 1

[Hemi-Cuda]

Just moved out of a condo that had two big dumpsters for garbage and recycling, so it's taking some getting used to paying more attention to what we trash vs recycle, and actually remembering to put the bins out on the right day. I don't know how we'll ever fill up the green bin, the house we bought doesn't even have grass in the back yard. Previous owners put high quality turf back there, so I'm kind of at a loss of what to do with that bin

[dino7c]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

Just moved out of a condo that had two big dumpsters for garbage and recycling, so it's taking some getting used to paying more attention to what we trash vs recycle, and actually remembering to put the bins out on the right day. I don't know how we'll ever fill up the green bin, the house we bought doesn't even have grass in the back yard. Previous owners put high quality turf back there, so I'm kind of at a loss of what to do with that bin

food garbage, pet waste

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

Just moved out of a condo that had two big dumpsters for garbage and recycling, so it's taking some getting used to paying more attention to what we trash vs recycle, and actually remembering to put the bins out on the right day. I don't know how we'll ever fill up the green bin, the house we bought doesn't even have grass in the back yard. Previous owners put high quality turf back there, so I'm kind of at a loss of what to do with that bin

Sign up for reminders in the purple box. Very helpful.


https://www.calgary.ca/uep/wrs/garba...-schedule.html

[monkeyman]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Sign up for reminders in the purple box. Very helpful.


https://www.calgary.ca/uep/wrs/garba...-schedule.html

I have the 311 app on my phone and it pushes reminders out to my phone as well.
very useful.

[topfiverecords]

I have the reminders too. Then I tell myself I’ll do it later, after the hockey game. Then I wake up in the morning having forgot to put the bins out and our route we’re an early stop so I never catch it in time.

[malcolmk14]

Yeah, because the guy next door who can't be bothered to put his garbage in his bin properly, is going to go buy a tag.

[Locke]

Thankfully we're moving people out of our house.

It was quite cramped during COVID due to extenuating circumstances.

That said though, we've never had an issue with garbage. The Black Bin every two weeks still works. I think I put an extra bag out beside the Bin maybe once a year.

But if it becomes too onerous I'm sure people will just start stuffing garbage in mostly empty green bins. By the time the City figures it out it'll be too late.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Locke

Thankfully we're moving people out of our house.

It was quite cramped during COVID due to extenuating circumstances.

That said though, we've never had an issue with garbage. The Black Bin every two weeks still works. I think I put an extra bag out beside the Bin maybe once a year.

But if it becomes too onerous I'm sure people will just start stuffing garbage in mostly empty green bins. By the time the City figures it out it'll be too late.

At least put it in the blue bin. Most of that ends in the landfill anyways and the aluminium doesn’t get contaminated by garbage.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by GGG

At least put it in the blue bin. Most of that ends in the landfill anyways and the aluminium doesn’t get contaminated by garbage.

My Blue Bin is full. Almost always.

I do my bit. I reduce, I re-use and I recycle. If they dump my Blue Bin into the landfill, that is beyond my scope of control.

My Black Bin, being picked up every other week is often full.

My Green Bin however is rarely full. Its usually just yard-trimmings and basic household compost. Its usually half-full at best.

[Ducay]

Just to chime in on the clay discussion - I've learnt that as long as you can physically get the bin to the curb, the truck can pick it up no problem.

Did some plantings this year and had a tonne of crap wet dirt to get rid of. Took a couple weeks, but every time I just loaded the green and black bins up to the point where I struggled to tilt/push it and the trucks had no problems with it being taken.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Ducay

Just to chime in on the clay discussion - I've learnt that as long as you can physically get the bin to the curb, the truck can pick it up no problem.

Did some plantings this year and had a tonne of crap wet dirt to get rid of. Took a couple weeks, but every time I just loaded the green and black bins up to the point where I struggled to tilt/push it and the trucks had no problems with it being taken.

Another little secret, Surferguy's driveway can hold a fair amount, and he is a heavy sleeper.

[Engine09]

Im no longer super pissed about this.

Talked to a friend who works for the city, he manages garbage trucks etc. He said something had to be done, regular folk maybe drop a single bag or 2 once a month but there are neighborhoods where it was constant 8 to 10 bags. Entire neighborhoods, every single black bin with 8 extra bags next to it. Every single time. So yeah, they ruin it for everyone.

[WhiteTiger]

Originally Posted by Engine09

Talked to a friend who works for the city, he manages garbage trucks etc. He said something had to be done, regular folk maybe drop a single bag or 2 once a month but there are neighborhoods where it was constant 8 to 10 bags. Entire neighborhoods, every single black bin with 8 extra bags next to it. Every single time. So yeah, they ruin it for everyone.

...How?!?

How do you generate that much garbage a week?

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by Burninator

This honestly seems like a reasonable solution to me.

I've heard the City looked into having multiple bin sizes and the trucks would have to be modified for the different bin sizes (or something like that). Plus the added complexity of having several different types of bins (not all of the black bins are the same for example).

So I was wrong about this. The biggest hurdle was the cost of the new bins. The City already has a lot of money sunk into the current bins and buying a bunch of new bins would be a significant cost.

[Reggie28]

Originally Posted by Engine09

Im no longer super pissed about this.

Talked to a friend who works for the city, he manages garbage trucks etc. He said something had to be done, regular folk maybe drop a single bag or 2 once a month but there are neighborhoods where it was constant 8 to 10 bags. Entire neighborhoods, every single black bin with 8 extra bags next to it. Every single time. So yeah, they ruin it for everyone.

What neighbourhoods?

There must be 8, 10, 12, 14 people living in each house. Could be multigenerational families with all the Aunties and Cousins or could be something more sinister, like the store owner who packed his employees in like sardines.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by WhiteTiger

...How?!?

How do you generate that much garbage a week?

Before kids, my wife and I generated enough trash to fill 25-50% of the bin every week. Some of it was due to laziness where rather than sorting it, we'd feel kinda tired and just black bin everything after a party/event etc. rather than actually sort green/blue/black bins.

After kids, one child on disposable diapers plus wipes is approximately 80-90% full every other week with regular household garbage and poor sorting (in laws not used to sorting recyclables and compost).

Currently my family is rolling approximately 95% to 105% (lid not completely closed) every 2 weeks with 2 kids in diapers and reasonable sorting. I think I can drop it down to 90% ish with better sorting of stuff into my green bin (ie: paper towels and food contaminated paper products that will compost just fine).


8 bags on the side sounds kinda like an extra bin to bin and a half. That's quite a bit of extra trash. I guess this is easy to do if you sort poorly or try to hide crap inside your garbage bin that shouldn't be there. The other possibility is that on top of a large family, a home business is run in that home and business related garbage that many other households don't have is also accumulating.

I've also heard of more multi generational homes where the kids move back to their parents for help with child care due to covid or to rent out their existing place due to money constraints (2x families under one roof plus baby that is basically 2x the average adult in garbage = approx 3x normal garbage to "average" home).

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Burninator

So I was wrong about this. The biggest hurdle was the cost of the new bins. The City already has a lot of money sunk into the current bins and buying a bunch of new bins would be a significant cost.

So you increase the cost for larger bins that covers the extra disposal fee, and amortizes it over a year or so. User pay, if you have more trash. They'd probably have to give the smaller ones away if they want to incentivize that, but if they go with 3 sizes they can reuse the ones that are already out.


The biggest issue is going to be more contamination in the other waste streams. I don't know how you prevent that.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

So you increase the cost for larger bins that covers the extra disposal fee, and amortizes it over a year or so. User pay, if you have more trash. They'd probably have to give the smaller ones away if they want to incentivize that, but if they go with 3 sizes they can reuse the ones that are already out.


The biggest issue is going to be more contamination in the other waste streams. I don't know how you prevent that.

When I was in Japan/Kyoto renting a townhouse, the trash collection company seemed to provide the bags for you to use. The bags are color coded and relatively transparent so you can quickly see what was inside. Penalties are imposed on bags with contaminated trash and recyclables (ie: higher pick up fee and/or refusal of collection). I also seem to recall that the pickup was 1-2 times a week.

That being said, I seem to recall that one of the sort of general rules with the trash in Japan was more along the lines of "incinerable vs non-incinerable" vs compost, recycle and trash. Non-incinerable AFAIK was taken to sorting facilities and incinerables that were compliant were taken to be directly burned.

I wonder if going to such a system would be helpful and a bit easier because of the general problems with the black and blue bins having things that it shouldn't have?

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

When I was in Japan/Kyoto renting a townhouse, the trash collection company seemed to provide the bags for you to use. The bags are color coded and relatively transparent so you can quickly see what was inside. Penalties are imposed on bags with contaminated trash and recyclables (ie: higher pick up fee and/or refusal of collection). I also seem to recall that the pickup was 1-2 times a week.

That being said, I seem to recall that one of the sort of general rules with the trash in Japan was more along the lines of "incinerable vs non-incinerable" vs compost, recycle and trash. Non-incinerable AFAIK was taken to sorting facilities and incinerables that were compliant were taken to be directly burned.

I wonder if going to such a system would be helpful and a bit easier because of the general problems with the black and blue bins having things that it shouldn't have?

We'd have to completely re-imagine what waste management looked like under that system,and since we just invested massive amounts of money in recycling and composting facilities, I don't see that as a viable option.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

We'd have to completely re-imagine what waste management looked like under that system,and since we just invested massive amounts of money in recycling and composting facilities, I don't see that as a viable option.

Sure. I don't disagree with that.

The contamination thing is a fair issue though, but I think we both wouldn't disagree that it's not big enough of an issue to actually consider it a problem worth attempting to solve right away.