Less for More: Garbage Collection

I've decided to start a new series of articles entitled "Less for More". One of the things I've noticed lately is how our tax bills are on the rise, yet government services that effect the average Joe seem to be on the decline. Coming on the heels of learning that the Ontario civil service "Sunshine" list (those earning more than $100,000) has grown by a huge number, I think that makes this fact more relevant.

This week is garbage collection. Recently, Halton has introduced the green bins, something many other cities have been using. I have to question if these bins really improve the garbage collection service. Here in particular, 2007 was not a good year for picking up trash. In Milton, trash collection has frequently been late. There are many days I've come home to still find my garbage sitting at the curb, only to hear the truck cruise by at dinner time, despite the demand to have your trash out by 7am. Recycle pickup was also infrequent, limited to every two weeks instead of every one, and big item pickups were every two months. Halton made some changes for 2008. Recycle and green bin are once a week now, but garbage is only every two weeks. That leaves smelly bags to fester in the garage. There are also now strict weight limits for the bags of garbage, since we can't have the big garbage men straining themselves to pick up bags my 83 year old Grandma has no problems with. Big pickup has also been limited to just three items. The supposed goal is to reduce the amount of waste heading to the landfills but I don't buy that. As for the green bins, they must have cost the region a bundle to buy them and print out the advertising campaign where it would have likely been cheaper to not introduce them. They were not widely popular in Milton. Further more, the bins require you to use special "biodegradable" bags, which further adds to the home owners expense. Halton has a very high tax rate given its lack of service.

Things get worse if you travel some 30km east of Milton to the centre of the universe, aka Toronto. Toronto has drastically cut back on garbage collection and has introduced a pay-per-bin policy which could add several hundred dollars to your annual bill no matter what you throw out. This obviously punishes larger families and businesses. In the mean time, Toronto has just levied some of the biggest tax increases in its history while the city continues to spend money like it were water on unnecessary expenditures. Of course, what could you expect from the central group of technocrats that huddle around Miller, the NDP showing its hidden totalitarian stripes. Toronto has long avoided dealing with its trash problem, trying to send their garbage (both human and otherwise) to nearby communities or to the US. The mayor and his cronies are afraid to open up a new landfill due to the "harmful environmental effects" it will have. Meanwhile, it's ok to send it to Michigan or other Ontario municipalities at huge expense to the Toronto tax payer where they can suffer the harmful effects. Ironically, I believe that having to pay-per-bin will most likely encourage people to illegally dump their junk, which Toronto already has a big problem with. So in the end, they're not saving their environment.

Taxes go up, service goes down. That's the Canadian way. I think it's time we put municipal leaders at the curb for not addressing one of our societies most basic services.