Ongoing Calgarians throwing things into the wrong bins thread

[Wormius]

I received a cryptic text message from my wife with a CoC link describing what pets can be put into the green bins. I guess the cat isn’t going to the pet cemetery.

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by Ashartus

Convenience and not wanting to leave unsightly bins sitting in front of the house all the time.

Fair enough.

[btimbit]

Originally Posted by Ashartus

Convenience and not wanting to leave unsightly bins sitting in front of the house all the time.

I was actually going to make a post about this in the gear grinder thread. People that leave their bins outside. Looks so crappy and dirty. Off to the side of the house tucked away is fine but I see so many that leave them on the side of their driveway or in front of their garage. Have some pride.

[redforever]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

Waste and Recycling is presenting to council today, apparently in June they will bring a proposal to council that will include variable black cart sizes (and pricing options based on that).

I'd easily drop down to a black bin 3/4 the size of the current one and stay with pickup every two weeks.

https://twitter.com/mpotkins/status/986652959034388480

I have my black bin picked up once a year. I recycle everything else.

[taco.vidal]

https://www.thestar.com/calgary/2018...o-revenue.html

CALGARY — Homeowners are tossing garbage and non-recyclable goods into residential blue bins at an unheard of rate in a city that has mostly embraced the program.

Over the past year, the rate of contamination in the blue recycling bins has spiked from roughly seven per cent in recent years to a new normal of 10 to 15 per cent, according to the city.

That’s well below contamination rates found in other Canadian cities, like Toronto and Edmonton, where roughly one-fifth of material tossed in blue bins is, in fact, garbage. But the trend is alarming and one the city wants to reverse.

“We want Calgarians to participate; they’re great recyclers,” said Sharon Howland, leader of program management with waste and recycling services. “We just need people to make sure that they’re putting the right materials in the cart.”

A report headed to the city’s utilities and corporate services committee Wednesday says contamination of recyclables is a “well-documented trend” in many cities, but Calgary’s decision to scale back garbage collection to every other week has made the situation worse.

Further, introducing “a variable pricing approach to our Black Cart Program is also likely to increase the amount of improperly sorted materials in blue carts,” administration warns in the report.

https://www.thestar.com/calgary/2018...o-calgary.html

CALGARY — City hall is laying the groundwork to shift away from flat-rate garbage collection to a system where households can chose the size of their black cart based on need.

The plan won’t be revealed until later this spring, but early indications suggest the city intends to offer multiple sizes for black bins (and charged accordingly) and introduce a tag-a-bag system, where households are charged extra for waste that doesn’t fit in the container.

The city is considering rolling out a similar program for blue and green recycling and composting bins at a later date.

This might make people put their bins away into their yard or garage so that the neighbors dont stuff extra garbage into others' bins.

And theyre still talking about a plastic bag ban. Less plastic,biodegradable grocery bags just means that Ive been using more thick plastic kitchen garbage bags. It costs me more but theyre more useful bags; the problem is theyre definitely not biodegradable.

The big problem is still excess packaging. Charging the consumer for garbage pickup is the long way around to try to reduce wasteful packaging. Often with a bigger item, there is so much cardboard and styrofoam that even after breaking the box down, the blue bin is filled with cardboard and the styrofoam fills the black bin which gets picked up only everyother week. So then the citizen can decide to keep the styrofoam and throw it out in the following weeks or just toss it in the blue bin.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by redforever

I have my black bin picked up once a year. I recycle everything else.

What about the styrofoam trays that meat comes on? I can't see a year's worth of those fitting into a bin, never mind the smell.

[Erick Estrada]

Man this entire garbage/recycling thing is a mess. The decision to pick up garbage bi-weekly was a bad one and because of that we are seeing higher levels of recycling contamination. I see a lot of people in my circle on garbage day with their bins full as well as bags next to them. To make things worse a lot of houses only put out blue bins weekly as the green ones are sporadic so we are paying the city to pick up green bins weekly that a lot of people simply can't fill over a week and don't put out.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by ken0042

What about the styrofoam trays that meat comes on? I can't see a year's worth of those fitting into a bin, never mind the smell.

Ya, when I hear people say that, I assume they are throwing non-recylcables in the recycle bin. There are loads of stuff you think should be recyclable, but are not.

[Ozy_Flame]

I wish the City - or even the private recycling programs - could make a shared database that you can access on your phone via an app that says what goes in which bin. Half the time I do condo recycling it's not clear enough where certain things go. Even before an app, there has to be clear signage, symbols, and directions that everybody understands.

For example, I wish it was thing where you go to recycle or dispose of garbage, and there is a bin specifically for Styrofoam, because obviously no one wants it anywhere else.

After that, it's up to the landowner to make the right bin choices. Any way to track the serious offenders who don't follow the rules?

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Ya, when I hear people say that, I assume they are throwing non-recylcables in the recycle bin. There are loads of stuff you think should be recyclable, but are not.

As you can see in the other thread this is a big problem as people are contaminating the recyclables.

[Fuzz]

Why do we need a thread for this? It's being discussed in the green bin thread...It's not like we are talking coaching here, where we NEED 8 threads. It's trash. One thread will do.

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

I wish the City - or even the private recycling programs - could make a shared database that you can access on your phone via an app that says what goes in which bin. Half the time I do condo recycling it's not clear enough where certain things go. Even before an app, there has to be clear signage, symbols, and directions that everybody understands.

For example, I wish it was thing where you go to recycle or dispose of garbage, and there is a bin specifically for Styrofoam, because obviously no one wants it anywhere else.

After that, it's up to the landowner to make the right bin choices. Any way to track the serious offenders who don't follow the rules?

http://www.calgary.ca/UEP/WRS/Pages/...e/Default.aspx

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Why do we need a thread for this? It's being discussed in the green bin thread...It's not like we are talking coaching here, where we NEED 8 threads. It's trash. One thread will do.

I think it's kind of eye opening how bad Calgary's recycling contamination levels are trending. May get buried in the regular thread. It's something people need to be aware of IMO.

[getbak]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

I wish the City - or even the private recycling programs - could make a shared database that you can access on your phone via an app that says what goes in which bin.

Like this? http://www.calgary.ca/UEP/WRS/Pages/...e/Default.aspx

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by Erick Estrada

As you can see in the other thread this is a big problem as people are contaminating the recyclables.

And this is the problem with 2 threads for the same topic...

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Why do we need a thread for this? It's being discussed in the green bin thread...It's not like we are talking coaching here, where we NEED 8 threads. It's trash. One thread will do.

Multiple threads just like the multiple bins.

[crazy_eoj]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

Multiple threads just like the multiple bins.

Please put your complaints in the blue thread.

Suggestions on improvements can go into the black thread.

General comments should be placed into the green thread.

Thank you.

[taco.vidal]

I think a big one is that many people dont know (or dont care) that Styrofoam does not go in the blue bin even though it may have the recycling symbol and a number.

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by getbak

Like this? http://www.calgary.ca/UEP/WRS/Pages/...e/Default.aspx

Thanks. I live in Edmonton, I just remember my experience living in Calgary when these things started

That said, how many people actually read this or actually know the rules?

[bizaro86]

So we cut down garbage pick up and people started doing inappropriate things with their garbage?

I'm shocked.

Probably what will fix the problem is charging more for extra garbage. After all, if you give people an incentive to trow their garbage in the recycling, lots of people will.