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

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by Jbo

Thank god the green bin gets picked up every week in August though when you only have to mow your lawn every 3-4 weeks.

This city is so ridiculous.

Leaving the clippings as mulch is the better answer in every regard (except that some clippings may be visible for like 48 hours)


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[lazypucker]

The weekly green bin collection is excessive in my opinion, even the blue bin.

I wonder if the city go bi-weekly collection on all 3 bins but allow homes to have an occasional extra bag or two for free will be more cost effective overall?

[Bill Bumface]

Our house is pretty average, family of 4. One kid in diapers still. Our black bin is never even close to full, even with diapers, unless it's full of stucco, composite decking scraps, or any of the other things that they say the black bin isn't intended for.

The green bin is only ever full in spring or hedge trimming days, but I think weekly is to manage the stink.

Our blue bin is full or near full here and there depending on the flow of cardboard boxes to the house.

[Ashartus]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

Our house is pretty average, family of 4. One kid in diapers still. Our black bin is never even close to full, even with diapers, unless it's full of stucco, composite decking scraps, or any of the other things that they say the black bin isn't intended for.

The green bin is only ever full in spring or hedge trimming days, but I think weekly is to manage the stink.

Our blue bin is full or near full here and there depending on the flow of cardboard boxes to the house.

Sounds pretty similar to my family. No kids in diapers anymore but even when they were we never came close to filling the black bin. The blue bin is regularly pretty full. Green bin only when we've been doing a lot of yard work but it does start to stink quickly.

[Burn13]

Just pick up the freakin garbage city of calgary! Why we gotta make it complicated. Stop social policing everyone most people nowadays understand recycle and compost and do the best they can to reduce waste.

[Mr.Coffee]

Got 3 kids and we throw out an insane amount of ####. I have no idea how we create so much garbage it’s pretty weird actually and yet we still don’t overflow on garbage after two weeks. Usually full by the end of the two weeks though.

[Erick Estrada]

I have two teenage boys and we fill our recycling bin to the top every week with cereal boxes, amazon boxes, etc. In the winter we definitely fill the garbage bin faster than the green bin so it's a little annoying to have the garbage picked up every two weeks while the green bin needs emptying once or twice a month.

[1qqaaz]

My family in Calgary has 8 people plus about 20 pets in the house.

Garbages are always full. The lot is 0.4 acres and produces quite a bit of grass clippings.
I thought having many people in households was more ecofriendly.
Seems kind of off to punish that.

[BurningYears]

Originally Posted by 1qqaaz

My family in Calgary has 8 people plus about 20 pets in the house.

Garbages are always full. The lot is 0.4 acres and produces quite a bit of grass clippings.
I thought having many people in households was more ecofriendly.
Seems kind of off to punish that.

I hope that is a big house.

[RedHot25]

Originally Posted by 1qqaaz

My family in Calgary has 8 people plus about 20 pets in the house.

Garbages are always full. The lot is 0.4 acres and produces quite a bit of grass clippings.
I thought having many people in households was more ecofriendly.
Seems kind of off to punish that.

On this particular point, how does it punish you?

You pay city's garbage pick up fee (same as everyone else) + X number of extra garbage bag tags now.

Separate into 2 houses, and that's 2 X city's pick up fees. Not only for garbage, but also recycling, compost, etc.

[8 Ball]

Originally Posted by 1qqaaz

My family in Calgary has 8 people plus about 20 pets in the house.

Garbages are always full. The lot is 0.4 acres and produces quite a bit of grass clippings.
I thought having many people in households was more ecofriendly.
Seems kind of off to punish that.

What sort of pets?

[Sliver]

Originally Posted by 1qqaaz

My family in Calgary has 8 people plus about 20 pets in the house.

Garbages are always full. The lot is 0.4 acres and produces quite a bit of grass clippings.
I thought having many people in households was more ecofriendly.
Seems kind of off to punish that.

That sounds like an absolute fataing nightmare.

[you&me]

Originally Posted by Sliver

That sounds like an absolute fataing nightmare.

The lawn care, number of pets, or size of the household? Not everyone can have a fifty foot lot in the LBC

1qqaaz' situation sounds kinda like mine... I think the point is, the city is trying to find a one-size-fits-all solution where there isn't one, as every household is different.

On one hand, the city has to find a way to handle excess trash fairly; on the other, someone with a .4 acre lot in the city is likely already paying FAR more in property taxes than most, so is it fair to provide them with the same bin (volume) as someone with a 2br duplex? I don't know much about it, but I like the idea of Okotoks offering different bin sizes - smaller households (or those that can make it work) can save by having smaller bins while larger households can opt / pay more for more volume.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by you&me

The lawn care, number of pets, or size of the household? Not everyone can have a fifty foot lot in the LBC

1qqaaz' situation sounds kinda like mine... I think the point is, the city is trying to find a one-size-fits-all solution where there isn't one, as every household is different.

On one hand, the city has to find a way to handle excess trash fairly; on the other, someone with a .4 acre lot in the city is likely already paying FAR more in property taxes than most, so is it fair to provide them with the same bin (volume) as someone with a 2br duplex? I don't know much about it, but I like the idea of Okotoks offering different bin sizes - smaller households (or those that can make it work) can save by having smaller bins while larger households can opt / pay more for more volume.

Isn't this a completely fair way to handle excess trash? Everybody pays the same price for the bin, you have more garbage than the bin, you pay more for your garbage. If you wanted a bin twice the size, you'd pay another $7. If you want to put out two large bags of garbage out for pickup (which is roughly equivalent to a bin), you'd pay $6. Just use the large garbage bags.

I think the original solution was a one-size-fits-most solution. This is more catered. Either way, if you fill more than the black bin you should be paying more than everyone else.

In 1qqaaz's situation, if that household was split in two, they'd be paying $14 instead of $7, which is probably what they should be paying. $3 a bag seems pretty reasonable to me.

[1qqaaz]

Originally Posted by BurningYears

I hope that is a big house.

6 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms

Not overly large, but decent size.

Yes, it's crazy.

[Barnes]

I never understood how people can complain about the cost and volume of yard waste but spend a bunch of time and money on water and fertilizer only to cut it, bag it and throw it in the green bin.

[you&me]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Isn't this a completely fair way to handle excess trash? Everybody pays the same price for the bin, you have more garbage than the bin, you pay more for your garbage. If you wanted a bin twice the size, you'd pay another $7. If you want to put out two large bags of garbage out for pickup (which is roughly equivalent to a bin), you'd pay $6. Just use the large garbage bags.

I think the original solution was a one-size-fits-most solution. This is more catered. Either way, if you fill more than the black bin you should be paying more than everyone else.

In 1qqaaz's situation, if that household was split in two, they'd be paying $14 instead of $7, which is probably what they should be paying. $3 a bag seems pretty reasonable to me.

My point actually was that the bins are perhaps larger than they need to be in most cases... Not that I'd expect the city to offer lower fees to those that need less, or to roll out new bins, so I guess this is the expected next step.

[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).

[powderjunkie]

Originally Posted by Barnes

I never understood how people can complain about the cost and volume of yard waste but spend a bunch of time and money on water and fertilizer only to cut it, bag it and throw it in the green bin.

Or people who wait for 15 minutes to save a few bucks on gas at Costco. And then go into the store and buy a bunch of #### they never end up using.

[#-3]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Isn't this a completely fair way to handle excess trash? Everybody pays the same price for the bin, you have more garbage than the bin, you pay more for your garbage. If you wanted a bin twice the size, you'd pay another $7. If you want to put out two large bags of garbage out for pickup (which is roughly equivalent to a bin), you'd pay $6. Just use the large garbage bags.

I think the original solution was a one-size-fits-most solution. This is more catered. Either way, if you fill more than the black bin you should be paying more than everyone else.

In 1qqaaz's situation, if that household was split in two, they'd be paying $14 instead of $7, which is probably what they should be paying. $3 a bag seems pretty reasonable to me.

Agreed, I would happily take a smaller bin for a discount. I only put my blackbin out once / month in the winter and hardly ever fill it. (I tried to avoid that in the summer, incase there soemthing smelly.