Pellerin: Ottawans can live with a garbage bag

When we are forced to make necessary changes, we typically embrace them. Remember when the green bin program was introduced in 2010?

Please excuse the dust; it's not just forest fires raining particles on our heads. It's also the Wayback Machine I fetched from the shed in order to show today's municipal councillors that when it comes to doing the right thing, there is no time like the present, as the past clearly illustrates.

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The City is proving to be a spineless blob on garbage. Three propositions to deal with trash overflow were debated during a six-hour session of the environment and climate change committee on June 5. They were all defeated in tie votes. We’re stymied for the moment, with no plan and no willingness to even pretend to be serious about the problem.

We are running out of room to stash our trash. And even if we weren't, there's very little that's appealing about a dump. It smells; attracts all kinds of critters of which really annoying seagulls are probably the least obnoxious; it's unsightly to say the least; and — oh yeah — it's terrible for the planet.

We’re supposed to be better than that. And in fact, when we are forced to make the necessary changes, we typically embrace them. Remember when the green bin program was introduced in 2010? I do. We griped and complained a lot. I probably did, too, if I’m perfectly honest. I wasn't looking forward to dealing with the ick factor.

And you know what? In its first year, the program met expectations, diverting a solid 53,000 tonnes of organic waste from landfill. People learned to deal with it and I personally discovered that biodegradable bin liners are awesome.

Of course nothing is perfect, and according to a 2020 report prepared for Waste Watch Ottawa, our green bin program could produce much better outcomes. I’m not qualified to judge, but I do know this: When the good people of Ottawa were forced to do the right thing, by golly they did.

Same when we went from weekly to biweekly garbage pickup. Oh, and we also complained about recycling earlier than that. And now we wouldn't dream of not sorting our refuse. End of history lesson.

If we limited the allowable garbage pickup to 2.1 bags every other week, we would divert enough from the landfill to extend its life expectancy by two years. Oh, and you know what else? Of the 306,000 households in this city, nearly three-quarters are already at or below that limit.

So all this spineless buffoonery is to save a stubborn minority from doing the same basic waste diversion work the rest of us managed to accomplish without dying of death.

This isn't leadership, any way you slice it.

We’ve been talking about the Trail Road dump for years. I’ve written about it a couple of times including once, memorably (if I do say so myself), in 2021. As I said then, everything we consume and throw out has a price and a cost. We know the former, but usually not the latter. "Your garbage bag has to go somewhere," I said. "How much does it cost, in money and environmental degradation, to dispose of it and its contents?" We don't know.

Most of us don't want to think about changing our habits, even to ensure there is a habitable planet for the children and grandchildren we claim to care about. But we’ll go to great lengths to save ourselves a $3 or $5 bag tag.

Clearly we need to make it more inconvenient to generate trash. It doesn't need to be very expensive and we should spare low-income families the extra fees. But for the average homeowner who can afford to buy enough stuff to throw out six bags of trash every pickup, a nudge can be powerful.

Plenty of cities make you pay more if you toss more, because it's the right thing to do. Kindly stop dawdling and get it together already.

Brigitte Pellerin (they/them) is an Ottawa writer.

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