Limit of two garbage bags? No way, say Oakville, Burlington, Milton, Halton Hills residents

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Published June 13, 2022 at 12:41 pm

A reduction in the amount of garbage bags one can put out in Oakville, Burlington, Milton and Halton Hills appears not to be in the bag.

A regional survey done in Halton found only 22 per cent of residents who responded supported the idea of limiting households to a pair of garbage bags allowed to be picked up biweekly.

Aimed at reducing the amount of garbage and extending the life of the region’s landfill, a new waste management strategy suggested a two-bag limit starting in 2023, with a further reduction to a one-bag limit in 2031.

But of the almost 7,000 Halton Region responses to the survey, the majority said they didn’t like the idea of a decrease in the amount of bags they can put out.

Ward 1 Regional and Oakville Councillor Sean O’Meara expressed concern over the reduction and what it would mean for households with large-size families, which he says we are seeing more and more of.

“I just don’t know if there’s a per-person threshold that we should be looking at or whether it’s simply by household. I’m not sure how we go down that path,” O’Meara said.

He wondered how they can treat this with a “one-size fits all” and how they can treat a family with three kids and perhaps another two in diapers the same as one with two retired individuals in it when it comes to the amount of garbage being put out.

“I don’t want to paint every household with the same brush here and say, ‘Well you should all fit in two bags of garbage and eventually one bag of garbage,'” O’Meara said.  “How are we going to differentiate between what people need and what really is garbage getting thrown out with unduly putting the burden on them to try and figure something out that they might not be able to do?”

The landfill is entering its final landfill lifespan of 25 years, but could be reached sooner at the current pace.

Andrew Farr, Commissioner of Public Works for Halton Region, says they have a plan in place to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reduce waste generation that could increase the landfill’s capacity by up to 20 years.

Those initiatives, have been proven in other municipalities like Markham and can be achieved over the next 10 years.

“We know if steps are not taken, our next update to this waste management strategy could look different,” Farr said.

Pavan Parmer, Ward 7 Regional and Oakville Councillor, also expressed her concern with the reduction, pointing out that many or her residents are multi-generalization families.

“It’s not always just the diapers that are the concern, it’s just more people, more waste,” she said. “I just want to be clear that the recommendation in the report is to review the garbage limits, we’re not decreasing it at this time.”

In an effort to increase waste diversion, the new strategy would see the total of garbage diverted from landfills to recycling or composting increased to 65 per cent by 2030 and 68 per cent by 2035, up from around 59 per cent currently.

While there may be some opposition to the reduction, other municipalities with these similar programs have shown they work, said Ron Rivers, Halton’s director of waste management and road operations.

“When we move within these new programs within the community, there’s always a resistance and some not happy people that don’t want to do that,” he explained. “But Markham is moving with it and it’s moving recycles and organics out of the waste so it does work.”

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