TRURO - If you haven’t yet stocked up on clear garbage bags, you might want to add them to your shopping list.
On Thursday, Colchester County’s clear bag garbage collection policy comes into effect. And while county residents along with those in Truro and Stewiacke will still be able to put out a maximum of six garbage bags every two weeks for curbside pickup, only one of those can be a dark bag. Any other garbage bags must be see-through clear. Recyclables can still be placed in blue bags.
“Between now and January, I guess, it will be a stepped-up education period,” said Darlene Proctor, the municipality’s waste reduction co-ordinator. “And that is where the driver and the municipal staff will be working hard to get them all in line. In January there could be fines or complete all and out rejection.”
Fine rates have not been set as yet and Proctor said officials are hoping that won’t ever become an issue.
“Because we’re hoping not to ever go that way,” she said. “I think from the amount of phone calls we’re receiving and requests for assistance and signage, I think most people are wanting to get on board sooner than later. Our phones have been busy.”
Proctor believes many residents have been preparing for the change in garbage collection so she doesn’t anticipate it being a huge issue.
“To tell you the truth, I think for the residents, most of them are doing a really good job so it’s not going to be a big change,” she said.
“The big impact to what we’re seeing is businesses and in talking with the haulers and some of the businesses a lot of this is new ground for them. They’ve been out of compliance for over a decade, so we’re very excited about everyone coming along.”
Even the larger businesses and manufacturers have made efforts to be in compliance with the new regulations. But Proctor does anticipate some challenges for others in the business sector, including those in the food service industry.
“It’s more the medium to small businesses. The larger manufacturers have basically come on stream a long time ago,” she said.
“Normally what I’m seeing is most businesses have one garbage bin that’s serviced once a week or once a month on call. And everything is going into the black bag. And now going into the clear bag, it actually shows the office paper or the lunch waste and that type of thing that the haulers won’t be able to pick up now.”
Many fast food restaurants have made efforts to join in the recycling and garbage separation mode but one of the issues for such businesses is that the customers are responsible for doing the sorting.
And that doesn’t always work too well, said Marsha Tattrie, regional operations manager for Subway restaurants.
“I do have concerns,” she said, of the fact that all businesses are required to switch to a 100 per cent clear bag format.
“Only because we have three compartment garbage bins … and nobody ever follows it,” Tattrie said. “And I know that the staff are going to have issues if they have to go through the garbage to try and sort things through.”
But Tattrie said she will be speaking with the restaurant’s owners, the garbage collectors and staff in an effort to find a solution to the problem.
Proctor said she also expects some issues with multiple-unit apartment complexes.
“It is going to be a challenge because a lot of it is anonymous,” she said of the garbage that is set out.
“The other big concern we’re getting from some businesses is contamination of their bins (dumpsters) from the public, illegal dumping in their bins and how are we going to handle that? And what we will be doing is actually going into those bags to see if we can find the source and chase it back to that person.”
Such practice is considered illegal dumping and Proctor said enforcement efforts will be used if it becomes a problem. As well, some businesses are installing surveillance cameras near their dumpsters and/or chaining down the tops.
Given the positive response to date, however, Proctor does not anticipate that many people will resort to illegal dumping instead of taking the time to properly sort their garbage.
“When talking to the other municipalities across the province the public often reacts that way by saying that. But in reality no one has experienced any more (illegal dumping),” she said. “So we’re hoping that they’re just going to grumble a little bit but they will come along anyway.”
In the end, though, as the program slogan goes: “the only change is just the colour of the bag.”
This new garbage law is crazy. Not only is it against my privacy but the cost is more then I can afford on a fixed income and the space needed would take up half my kitchen. So let me break it down. Cost to clean my garbage 5 - 10 dollars a month. Clear bags 6 dollars a month. Black bags 4 dollars a month. Blue bags 5 dollars a month. So there is $20.00 a month or $240.00 a year on products each household will now need to spend just to through away (plus garbage removal taxes). Now let us take a look at the space. Each garbage bag takes up room to sort the garbage the way they request it I would need to have 3 bags plus one compost container. For people living in Apartments this is not possible. I know myself I don’t have room for 1 bag so I use old grocery bags once it is full I take it to the dumpster. They might not be clear but they are see threw and I will continue using them. Reuse to Reduce and Recycle.