Is Pointe-Claire’s weekly summer garbage pickup progress or retreat?

When Pointe-Claire initially opted to change its weekly household garbage collection to every other week in May 2015, as a resident I reacted with trepidation to the change. The main concern was how often raccoons would ransack my garbage can, stored in a carport, and leave a mess that would need to be swept up. (Many older Pointe-Claire homes don’t have garages; so garbage cans and rolling bins are often stored outside.) There was immediate heated reaction to the move by the Morris Trudeau-led municipal council to drop garbage collection to once every two weeks. At the same time, the city’s green-organic residue collection became a weekly feature throughout the year. It was a bold attempt by Pointe-Claire to keep compostable materials out of garbage landfills. Pointe-Claire was the first West Island jurisdiction to launch regular organic/ green waste curbside collections, initially as a pilot project in 2007, of which I was part. As far as garbage being picked up every two weeks, our family of four have adjusted to the fact. As more kitchen scraps — from banana peels to chicken bones — were placed in the green-organic bin, the raccoons paid less attention to the regular garbage can. It also takes about two weeks for the garbage can to be filled. I recall that when weekly garbage was still in place, more often than not our garbage can had been half full or less. However, not every PointeClaire resident was happy. Citing diaper disposal and foul stench, many were vocal about returning to weekly garbage pickups. This message was clearly heard by Pointe-Claire’s new mayor, John Belvedere, a council neophyte who was elected last November. Albeit with two dissenting votes by councillors who also served on the previous council, Pointe-Claire has opted to spend $127,000 for 13 extra collections so garbage will be picked up weekly this summer. This comes on top of PointeClaire’s $600,000 contract for collecting and transporting household waste every two weeks from April 1, 2018, to March 31, 2019, city hall spokesman MariePier Paquette-Séguin confirmed. This total has been established for an estimated 10,000 tonnes of household waste and may increase or decrease depending on the amount collected during this period, she added. “For your information, 6,156 tonnes of (Pointe-Claire) household waste were sent to landfills in 2016 — a 27 per cent decrease compared to 2013,” she noted. Belvedere said the city would evaluate the return to weekly garbage collection after the conclusion of the 13 extra pickups. While there is demand for weekly garbage pickup, not every household needs it. Perhaps, PointeClaire could follow Beaconsfield’s pay-as-you-throw garbage system adopted just over two years ago. Beaconsfield moved from manual to mechanized garbage bin collection and provided each household with a grey rolling bin. While 12 collections are included in Beaconsfield’s basic annual garbage tariff, residents are charged for extra pickups, depending on the size of their bin option. Turns out Beaconsfielders are putting out their garbage less often each week. The city also realized savings with the mechanized collection since the contractor requires fewer trucks. The city has provided individual choice for residents with its pay-as-youthrow garbage policy. Beaconsfield does not provide rolling bins for its green/composting collections. It has been encouraging grass recycling and voluntary home composting of organic/kitchen residue. However, starting April 23 and running to Nov. 26, the city is advising residents to drop any kitchen/ food residue into the city’s weekly green collection, which is done using a can with a lid or bin purchased by each homeowner. Enhancing its green residue collection is a cost-saving alternative to an organic bin collection, the city stated. While both cities have different approaches, both strive to keep recyclable or compost materials out of garbage collections and landfills. Pointe-Claire has been at the forefront of recycling and collecting green residue in the West Island. It might be going too far to declare that a return to weekly garbage collections in the summer will change that ideal. Similar to how water meters can motivate residents to not waste potable water, would a user fee for extra garbage collections encourage residents to be more mindful of what’s thrown in their garbage and instead sort what should be put in their recycling or green residue bin?