Town trashes tags
Posted By Dan Schell
Posted 8 months ago
Due to the large number of residents within the Town of Bancroft taking part in the municipal initiative to throw away less and focus on recycling, they are being rewarded with an eliminated cost to their wasting activities.
Municipally provided bag tags will no longer be necessary for garbage pick-up starting in 2010, which will not only save the Town money in the long run but will alleviate some strain on the residents of the community.
Don Taylor, Waste Site Manager for the Town of Bancroft, says that this is a positive step for the Town and their goal of being more aware of what enters the landfill on a weekly basis; and if it was not for the support of the community this direction may not have happened.
"We really got a great buy-in from the residents on these plans with many keeping it down to the recommended two bags every week," says Taylor. "It is that effort that we are grateful for and is leading us to eliminate the need for bag tags in the Town."
The Town made their official move towards waste reduction at the beginning of 2009 with the installation of the clear bag policy, with the hopes of highlighting the need to recycle more efficiently to reduce the waste entering the landfill.
Taylor says that since the clear bag policy was established, the impact on the volumes entering the landfills has been phenomenal for the amount of time it has been in action.
He says that the rate of recycling has risen significantly, resulting in a drop in the amount of waste dropped off in the landfills.
As a result of this action, the Environmental Services committee felt it would be the right time to take away the restrictions on the amount of bags that are wasted each year by residents who utilize the curbside pick-up program. Taylor hopes that with this decision, the actions shown by the public to reduce their amount of waste will continue and will be assisted in the situations that do call for more than two bags of weekly waste.
"For many people who might have a home business or large families, the two bag limit can be tough to adhere to," he explains. "The council has been very sensitive to that issue and hopefully this will help in that light."
Though the tags are now not mandatory, Taylor stresses that this does not remove the importance of reducing the waste that is produced in each household. The goal is still to maintain the strength of the current landfill site in Dungannon through a focus on recycling and waste reduction.
As a result, the Town will begin to enhance their information collecting systems in regards to the waste that is collected at the site and from the curbside pick-ups. With research on bag counts and weight of the trucks and waste collected, Taylor says the hope is that there is more awareness of what is entering the landfill which will keep track of rise and fall of waste and recycling numbers.
One of the more immediate benefits to this municipal decision will be the cost-savings that will occur on the municipal budget when it comes to Environmental Services. He states that the Town of Bancroft will now be looking at a savings of around $6,000, which was previously allocated to the production and door-to-door distribution of the bag tags and other updates from the Environmental Services committee.
"Though this is not a big amount to be saving, it is still eliminating a cost for this year at the municipal level," says Taylor. "Any savings is seen as a bonus within any municipal budget."
In terms of looking to the future of the landfill program, Taylor sees this move as a trial situation that could change upon direction of the municipal council or provincial regulations.
Though the bag tags were not bringing in a massive amount of revenue to support the landfill and other waste related programs according to municipal staff, Taylor says that this will be something they will need to look at down the road that might result in a fully user-pay waste system.
However, he stated that this is something that would occur down the road and will not impact the elimination of the bag tag system.
"If we ever move to a pay-per waste system, it would be a decision that council would have to make and would lead to a total overhaul of the way we deal with waste," says Taylor.
The future also depends on the decisions made at the provincial level from the Ministry of Environment. He feels that with the constant changes that are directed to waste site managers every day from the ministry, the road ahead depends on the whim of the Ministry and what they would like to do.
"It is hard for us to develop a comprehensive waste by-law when everything is changing the way it does at the provincial level," he says. "A lot can depend on what we are directed or allowed to do according to their regulations."
