New yard waste rules irk South End homeowner

A woman who lives in the city's South End says new rules requiring leaf and yard waste to be placed in paper bags before they're picked up are unfairly putting another burden on taxpayers.

Elizabeth MacIsaac says she understands why the city will no longer pick up trimmings placed in plastic bags, but she doesn't get why residents have to buy paper bags, which have plenty of drawbacks. The new rules takes effect July 1.

"Paper bags are expensive (and) don't hold very much,” MacIsaac said. “They're going to disintegrate in the rain — and guess who's going to be responsible for cleaning up the mess after they disintegrate?

"The guys are going to pick the bags up, and everything is going to fall onto the pavement or the driveway and we're going to have to pick it up and put it into other paper bags."

The change in policy was an attempt by the city to control costs for leaf and yard waste collection, which proved so popular last year that it went overbudget by $460,000. The city collects it once a week, and before this year it had to be stored at the curb in clear plastic bags.

But having to remove the waste from the bags was more time-consuming and therefore more costly. In a move expected to save about $60,000, as of July 1 residents will have to use paper bags or tie the waste in secure bundles.

MacIsaac, who says her property taxes are already about $6,600 a year, complains it's unfair to force her and other homeowners to keep buying paper bags when a cheaper alternative is available.

"My idea was if we could have a garbage can — specially labelled, maybe — for yard waste only, so they could dump the can and leave it for us so we can reuse it," she said. "This way we could cut back on some of our costs.

"I understand why they don't want to collect the plastic bags, but I'm not interested in buying paper bags because they're expensive. And like I said, when it's raining, they'll disintegrate.

"I'll buy my own container, as long as I don't have to keep buying paper bags.”

In an email, city spokesperson Kelli Sheppard said MacIsaac's idea is the sort of thinking the city is looking for as it searches for ways to offer the same services at a lower cost.

That initiative was prompted by the property tax freeze this year, which left $6 million budget gap. Staff is looking for ways to save money in both operating costs and through attrition, in an initiative dubbed Project $6 million – P6M, for short.

“This is exactly the type of suggestion we were looking for when we launched P6M,” Sheppard said. “It's simple, it has potential for cost-savings to both taxpayers and the city.

“We will definitely bring it up to our team in solid waste as a possible future change to how we collect leaf and yard trimmings.”