Trash fees – outrageous or fair?

The pros and cons of the garbage debate 

Letter to Simcoe.com from Patty McLaughlin March 2 2011

INNISFIL – Re: Trash fees coming, Feb. 24

Last week’s Journal papers announced that we will be charged for each garbage bag we bring to the curb.  I think this is outrageous.  What are we paying taxes for?  

I think most residents do their best to reduce waste, by recycling and using the green bins for compost. 

We compost our own waste and I know many others do too. I am certainly not opposed to buying tags for any extra garbage that may happen after a party or the Christmas holiday season, but to charge for a minimal garbage once a week is just wrong.  

Noted in the paper was that it would reduce the waste levy from $150 to $70 per household.  Simple math gets an $80 savings on your taxes, but at $2 per bag each week that would cost us an extra $104 per year.  I just have to question where this adds up.

In my opinion this added cost to already taxed households will result in pitch and toss on our local roadways.  Having been involved in the Pitch-In Spring Clean up  I have seen garbage that has been tossed probably just because there was no other way of getting rid of it.  

We are only allowed one day per year of getting rid of bigger items and that is limiting for folks that only have a car to get to the dump.  

Spring and Fall cleanups for yards are not picked up often enough and the paper bags that we are forced to put our yard waste into can sit for a number of weeks and by the time the pick up is, the bags deteriorate and the bottoms fall out.

Again, just what are we paying our property taxes for?

Patty McLaughlin

Innisfil

Letter to simcoe.com from Ray Millar March 4 2011

SIMCOE COUNTY – Re: Trash fees coming, Feb. 24

Currently, every taxpayer in the County of Simcoe pays a waste collection fee as part of the County levy included on their respective municipal tax bill. Several of the member municipalities of the County, including the Township of Tiny, have chosen to show the waste management levy as a separate and distinct charge, while others have incorporated the waste levy into a single overall charge. In either case, we are all paying a collection fee, there is no free garbage pick up, one bag per week or otherwise.

The change that has been proposed will see a portion of the waste management levy (garbage pick up) removed from individual tax bills in favour of a user pay system or bag tag. While the proposed change is meant to be revenue neutral, some taxpayers will undoubtedly pay more, but those taxpayers who are diligent and use the organics and blue box programs, putting out less than one bag of garbage per week, will pay less.

No matter what the fee is, even if disposal costs were free, there will always be those who choose to break the law. We see it now, even though our communities have waste and recycling receptacles, there are those who continue to litter. Our studies have shown that illegal dumping increases slightly whenever changes of this sort occur but return to normal (yet unacceptable) levels shortly afterward.

While it may be true that large families will pay more for waste collection, it is not certain. I can tell you that my own household of 7 puts out a single bag per week by using the blue bin and source separated organics program.

If you look at waste disposal in the same light as most other utilities like telephone, cable television, water and sewer charges, or hydro, isn’t it fair that those who use more should pay more? I know that I don’t want to subsidize those who leave their taps running and all of their lights on.

Getting to zero waste won’t be easy but that is no reason not to try. I encourage you to visit www.zerowastesimcoe.org for an explanation of zero waste principals. If we all continue working together to reduce the size of our waste stream, it will go a long way to solving our waste management challenges.

Ray Millar is Mayor of Tiny Township and a board member of Zero Waste Simcoe