Deachman: Throw out your garbage now, before it costs you

With Ottawa's garbage regulations getting a three-item limit at the end of the month, now is the time for a little housecleaning.

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Published Sep 10, 2024  •  Last updated 0 minutes ago  •  3 minute read

Every household in the city will be allowed to put out three bags (or containers) as part of the biweekly pickup, down from the current maximum of six containers. Photo by Tony Caldwell /POSTMEDIA

It’s time to face the facts.

You’re never going to fix those broken picture frames that have been collecting dust in the basement since you carted them from your last residence to your current one. Those cracked leather ski boots and ancient rusted cable bindings you most recently used when Jackrabbit Johannsen (1875-1987) was still blazing trails, meanwhile, can no longer recall their best days. And as for your grandpa’s old dentures, the ones you felt it too disrespectful to simply toss in the trash immediately after tuberculosis took his life? He’s long moved on; maybe you should, too.

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And you should do it now.

Ottawa residents have, at most, two more garbage-collection days before the end of the month, when the new curbside collection regulations come into effect. As of Sept. 30, households will be limited to three “items” of garbage, each of which, notwithstanding pieces of furniture, old rugs or what have you, is essentially what you can fit into a 140-litre trash bin, so long as each bin doesn’t exceed 33 pounds.

Residents who want to throw out more will be required to purchase special yellow bags for $17.60 for four ($4.40 each).

(A note on bin size: the galvanized steel trash cans of yesteryear that are still being used hold a paltry 75 litres, while most of the larger plastic Rubbermaid-type ones hold 121 litres.)

The purpose of the new regulations is to extend the lifespan of the Trail Road Waste Facility while also prodding residents who aren’t already adherents to adopt the three Rs — reuse, reduce and recycle — as well as green bins for organic waste. It’s worth noting that there is no limit to the amount of recycling or organic material households can put out each collection day, so why wouldn’t you?

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As someone who only started green-binning nine months ago and has subsequently seen my trash output drop by about half, it’s difficult to imagine many households, even ones boasting Brady Bunch-type numbers, having all that much difficulty with the new rules. Four-hundred and twenty litres — the combined capacity of three of the largest trash bins permitted — is a lot, and according to the city, 85 per cent of households already comply with the three-item limit —  which critics of the new measure point to when saying it doesn’t go far enough in dealing with our waste.

That said, diversion of recyclables and organic waste still has a long way to go; Fifty-eight per cent of what Ottawa residents currently put in their garbage could be diverted to black, blue or green bins, with most of that being organic. The pay-as-you-throw model that environmental groups such as Ecology Ottawa, and others, wanted the city to adopt would have done more to increase that figure.

The city, meanwhile, says it expects to see an increase in illegal dumping for roughly three to six months until residents get used to the new regulations, a problem it says it will address with “additional resources” for monitoring, at least in parks. If you’re among those inclined to dump illegally, I don’t imagine that reminding you that it makes you one of society’s asshats will help, but there you go; I’ve said it.

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This shouldn’t be difficult. Hopefully, the new regulations will encourage further waste redirection, even among those who see the restrictions as some sort of government infringement on their garbage rights. Perhaps communities will even come closer together, with those with a fourth bag on garbage day asking neighbours with fewer than three if they can share the load.

OK, that last part seems unlikely and, frankly, annoyingly Kumbayah-ish. But for the next two or three weeks, we ought to look at the coming limits as an opportunity to get rid of a bunch of stuff that has been cluttering our homes, and lives.

Grandpa would’ve wanted it that way.

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