Trash user fees — it’s about time

I say it’s about time the city implements a user-pay garbage pickup system, provided individual users are charged according to the volume they generate. While a one-rate system would give the city an easy to administer and predictable income stream, it would provide no incentive at all for citizens to change their habits.

If delaying the need for a new landfill is the underlying motivation for this proposed strategy, then do something that stands a chance of succeeding and do it now. Individuals are very much in control of how much garbage they produce, as long as they make full use of the blue bin and green bin programs available to them.

Those who already follow the simple routine of sorting their waste products know just how little they send to the landfill — there are many of us who couldn’t fill our garbage bin in a month, let alone a week. Yet it’s not uncommon to see black bins piled high with all manner of recyclable items, including cardboard and big bags of lawn clippings.

I don’t know how the city would calculate the actual volume that each individual household sends to the landfill, but the ways and means surely exist or could be easily developed. And for those councillors who fear that a volumetric fee might push some residents to just dump their garbage elsewhere, don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater. If community education and peer pressure doesn’t help, at least those too lazy or uncaring to do their duty will pay their proportional share. Don Kardash, Saskatoon