Choice of Cart Sizes for Simcoe County’s New Waste Collection System

By D Dickson

We are residents of The County of Simcoe and have outlined below a list of points of concern we have regarding the proposed “New Automated Cart Collection System”.

Please don’t think that we are not in favour of progress, but just want to raise some points that affect our immediate community and many other communities in The County of Simcoe.

• We all want our towns and cities to look beautiful, neat and tidy.
• As a waste and recycling solution The County of Simcoe has selected a “one size fits all” Cart Collection System that works for The County that does not seem to consider how it might impact individual households.
• Many homes have no space, perhaps due to carport, no garage, single car garage, etc., to store the proposed larger bin/carts.
• While the promotional material from The County says “the vertical carts will use 50% less floor space”, the V-shaped carts and measurements provided tell a much different story. They will actually take up much more total space.
• The carts may be great for large families, but many (most in our area) households have one or two people and this larger size will far exceed their requirements.
• In an effort to save space, some residents may choose to remove one or two carts from their collection, resulting in far less recycling and put everything in the waste cart.
• People will do what works for them. Most residents would not choose to have bins in their front or side yard, but may have no choice due to the space requirements, which will negatively impact the streetscape.
• Most residents with a single car garage, who may manage to fit the new carts in their garage, will have to back their car out in order to roll the carts to the curb for collection.
• We are committed and responsible when it comes to all forms of waste management and recycling and have already modified our small, single car garage to accommodate the bins we are currently using.
• We have smaller vehicles and based on the measurements provided by The County, there is no way we could accommodate the three larger carts and an automobile.
• We assume The County would be promoting responsible waste and recycling management solutions. The proposed carts may very well discourage this. We need to make the adoption of a new system seamless in order for it to work or residents will find their own solutions.
• Other jurisdictions (Toronto, Peel) have provided citizens with multiple sized bins that will fit their needs instead of a “one size fits all”. Why is Simcoe County different?
• To say “it is expensive” to provide a choice of carts is failing to recognize additional costs that may be incurred by the County to deal with waste that has not been sorted (using only 1 bin for all waste, including recycling and compostable), dumped in parks, roadside, private development/commercial bins, etc. that could ultimately lead to decreased diversion from landfill.
• And to say that it is too late to change the planned roll out is not expectable considering that the public (at least the Collingwood/Wasaga Beach areas) were not consulted ahead of time.

If you feel that we should have a choice of bin/cart size, please sign this petition.

Read the CollinwoodToday article: Collingwood townhouse owners ‘frustrated’ over new waste bins