Niagara’s waste disposal changes make sense

Safe garbage disposal is terribly expensive.

Niagara Region just expanded the Humberstone landfill in Welland, at a cost of more than $11 million, to get another 25 years’ capacity from the site.

On top of that, every year, the Region spends $20 million just to collect all those bags, cans and other stuff you and your neighbours put out at the curbside.

The entire waste management plan, for one year, clocks in at just under $53 million (though that is offset by the roughly $17 million Niagara gets back through tipping fees and by selling off some of the compost and recycled materials it collects).

So when you are asked to start putting out your trash every two weeks instead of every one, starting the week of Oct. 19, it’s about more than just protecting the environment, though that is also important.

If waste management is one area where Niagara can hold the reins on fast-rising costs — even as the expense of providing policing, clean water, road repair and seniors care keeps rising — then it must do it.

The full plan is online at NiagaraRegion.ca/waste. For residents, the only big change will be moving to garbage collection every second week. The grey and blue bin recyclables will still be picked up every week, as will compostables in the green bin.

Instead of being limited to one can or bag of trash a week, you will be allowed to put out two when the new schedule takes effect.

If that’s what it takes to get people to recycle and compost more, then it’s worth the effort.

Niagara’s diversion rate — the amount of material that gets recycled or composted, rather than thrown out with the trash — has risen slowly in recent years.

The last time it jumped in a substantial way, officials say, was in 2011, when residents were limited to putting out only one can or bag a week, instead of two.

So it’s time to shock the system again, by moving to pickup every two weeks.

“We know that the green bin is not being fully utilized by residents and businesses,” said Catherine Habermebl, director of waste management for Niagara Region, this week.

“We know that 50 per cent of the garbage can typically contains food waste, so the real driver … is to improve or increase sustainable behaviour.

“We want to drive that material out of the garbage can and into the green bin and blue box.”

In a nutshell, that will make our landfills last longer (and if you think collecting trash is pricey, try opening a new landfill). It will also be less costly to residents through their tax bills.

And it’s better for the environment.

It’s a myth that foodstuffs and organic materials sent to landfill will just decompose. They don’t, because they don’t have access to oxygen as they get buried under all that junk.

Instead, they produce methane gas, which is bad for the environment. They also create leachate, or dirty water that drains from the landfill and has to be cleaned before it can be sent to the water treatment plant.

It’s another myth the garbage will start to smell if it sits around for two weeks.

Once leftover food materials and organics are separated and put out for composting, what’s left should be dry materials. Store them in a can or a tied-up bag and they shouldn’t have an odour or be attractive to animals looking for an overnight meal.

No one likes change, especially with what we’ve all been through this year. But this appears to be a good plan.