Do you regularly use your green bin for compost and kitchen waste? How about garbage vs. recycling. Are you diligent about separating and rinsing out plastic and metal containers before you toss them? Would it change your habits if you had to pay based on the amount of garbage you dispose of?

Currently everyone in Peel Region pays the same regardless of garbage bin size. Sure, if you have more garbage than your bin will hold, you have to buy tags to have additional bags collected. But, if you stay within your bin size, you pay the same as all your neighbours, whether your bin is small, medium or large. That may be about to change.

The folks at the Region of Peel are thinking about changing the rules for garbage collection and they want to hear from you. They are considering charging user fees that vary depending on the bin size you use. One option is to rely solely on a user fee system. Another option is to rely on the tax-base to cover some of the costs of garbage collection while the remainder would be recouped as user fees. Or they could just leave the system as is.

What would your preference be? Here are somethings for you to consider.

Blue-box contamination is a growing problem in Peel Region. Eighty to ninety percent of households do a good job of properly separating garbage from recyclables. But the high contamination rate in the remaining 10-20%, raises Peel’s overall contamination average to 30%. It matters, because contamination of blue box recycling materials costs the Region over $3.6 million in added collection and processing costs each year.1

Another problem is that about half of what Peel residents put out to the street as garbage is actually material that could go into the Blue or Green bins. Fifteen percent of the garbage collected could have been recycled. And over forty percent is actually kitchen scraps or food waste.2 Not only is this expensive for the home owner but it is also bad for the environment.

When food is buried in landfill it rots and produces methane, a greenhouse gas 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide. 3 About 6-8% of the world’s human caused greenhouse gases come from food waste.4

Cutting down on waste is a great way to help the environment. Properly separating and sorting waste is another. Being better at both will help the Region save money and reduce what we pay in taxes. Let the folks at Peel Region know what you think about waste collection and user fees by attending an open house or completing the on-line survey.

1 https://pub-peelregion.escribemeetings.com/FileStream.ashx?DocumentId=4482
2 https://peelregion.ca/officialplan/review/pdf/waste-management-discussion-paper.pdf
3 http://www.cec.org/flwy/food-waste-climate-change/#:~:text=When%20food%20ends%20up%20in,more%20potent%20than%20carbon%20dioxide.&text=When%20food%20gets%20wasted%2C%20we,earth%20%E2%80%93%20and%20polluting%20our%20environment.
4 https://www.worldwildlife.org/stories/fight-climate-change-by-preventing-food-waste