Victoria rubbish at sorting trash

Victorians can be led to garbage cans, but city hall can’t make them sort their trash properly, city councillors heard this week.

At a meeting of committee of the whole, councillors were told the public just can’t seem to figure out how to use a garbage station with three separate bins: one for trash, one for recyclable materials and one for organic waste.

Councillors were told last year 16 triple bins were installed around the city to see if people would comply with proper sorting.

But after one year, it appears at least onethird of all the waste tossed into the triple bins was put in the wrong bin. The worst compliance was in the downtown core.

In fact, each waste stream was so badly contaminated that no commercial recycling processor or compost facility would accept it.

In the end, city workers had to sort the garbage from the triple bins manually before any of the waste could be properly handled.

At the end of Thursday’s council discussion, it was decided to continue with the triple bins but work to improve signs and education.

Fraser Work, Victoria director of engineering, said studies have shown people will spend, at most, six seconds figuring out how to dispose of their trash.

“So there is an opportunity for some education here,” Work said.