As many of you likely already know, in October, the number of garbage bags you can put at the curb every week will change from three to two.
City council, as a whole, approved this change, and two of us want to take the opportunity to tell you why it’s the right thing to do.
Not a lot of thought goes into what happens when garbage is thrown out. It gets tossed into a bag, that bag gets tossed at the end of the driveway, and it gets hauled away. But of course, that garbage doesn’t end its journey on a waste collection truck — it ends up in the landfill.
A plastic bottle that gets tossed into the garbage rather than the recycling bin takes at least 450 years to disintegrate. That’s pretty bad. But millions of bottles taking at least 450 years to disintegrate is traumatic to our environment, our community and our planet.
Here’s the good news: a pop can that takes 80 years to disintegrate in a landfill can be melted, made into a new can, refilled and be back up on a store shelf – all within 60 days. Recycled, the plastic bottle has the potential to make new bottles, buckets, carpet and fleece jackets.
“Tell them how much taxes will increase if they don’t start being smarter about our garbage.” – Grade 10 student, Confederation Secondary.
The financial implications are significant, as well. The cost of a new landfill site is currently estimated at $40 to $50 million, and is contingent on getting provincial approval to build a new site. Our Hanmer site has a life expectancy of about 20 years, while the Azilda and Sudbury sites have a life expectancy of about 30 years. The more effort we put into diverting garbage from our landfill sites and into the Blue Box and Green Cart programs, the longer our landfills will last.
We are passionate about creating a sustainable community both financially and environmentally – now and for the future. We know many of you are, too. None of us wants to leave a mess or a large debt for our children to deal with in 25 years. Changing the way we deal with our waste is just one more way for us to live sustainably.
Nearly 90 per cent of our citizens already put out two or fewer bags at the curb every week – and council and staff are making it as easy as possible for those who are concerned about their ability to keep their garbage to two bags. The municipality is offering supporting programs and tools to assist our citizens during this process. This includes programs for people with children under the age of four in diapers, people with medical conditions resulting in large quantities of non-recyclable waste, additional blue boxes and green carts delivered directly to your home, and a new waste sorting tool called the Waste Wizard. In addition to the two bags of garbage that will be collected each week, there continues to be unlimited weekly recycling, organics, and leaf and yard trimmings. Take us up on the offer! Visit www.greatersudbury.ca/twobaglimit for more details.
Going from three bags to two is only the first step. In 2019, the municipality will be moving to further reduce the number of garbage bags picked up at the curb – from two to one. Finally, in 2021, two bags every two weeks will be collected, while still maintaining unlimited weekly blue box, green cart and yard waste pick-up.
“In the interest of tomorrow, we will act today”. – Greater Together: 2015-2018 Corporate Strategic Plan, City of Greater Sudbury.
The community of Greater Sudbury is moving toward a sustainable future. Look forward to seeing you there.
Deb McIntosh, Ward 9 Councillor
Mike Jakubo, Ward 7 Councillor