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By BREANNE ELRICK
Staff Writer

It’s about time that Niagara took a second look at its waste.

The new waste collection contract for the region is going to be starting in 2021 and there are various proposed options to be looked at.

There is a large focus in putting responsibility in the hands of residents and businesses.

Currently, garbage is collected weekly along with recycling and organics collection.  However, Niagara residents seem to be misplacing their recyclable and organic waste.

Based on the recent audits on landfill sites in Niagara region, 50 per cent of the average garbage bag is compostable food that should be put in the organics bin.

Another 14 per cent of that garbage bag is recyclable.

That leaves 36 per cent of waste that is properly going to the landfill.

Consumers in Niagara must take the onus upon themselves to separate their waste to better sustain the environment.

Bernie Slepkov lives in downtown St. Catharines and has been working with sustainability in our region for nearly 20 years.

“I see a major problem being with getting people to separate their waste into recyclables, paper and organics.

“In the downtown,” says Slepkov, “I hardly see any organics.

“I hardly see any recycling for that matter, definitely boxes.”

“We generate it, we’ve got to try to reduce our waste within the city,” says Slepkov.

There are many options to look at and the Region is looking for feedback through online surveys and telephone surveys.

“We encourage people to fill out the online survey.

Their voice is important, their opinion is important,” says Brad Whitelaw, program manager for waste policy and planning.

The online survey is at niagararegion.ca/letstalkwaste and is fairly simple to fill out.

“Go there and there’s an option for both residents and businesses.

As long as they do it before the end of November, their opinions will be taken into validation.”

“We’re looking at some (proposed) collection options to be considered for the next collection contract,” says Whitelaw.

“In order to do that we’ve got a number of different options being considered.”

One of the proposed options is bi-weekly garbage collection, while recyclables and organics would still be collected weekly.

There would also be an increase in the limit of garbage bags put out.

That is in the hope that it would encourage residents to separate their waste.

“There is a convenience factor. They can get garbage collected weekly,” says Whitelaw.

“If you make it less convenient for residents to put it in the garbage, then they will use the diversion programs.”

Slepkov believes convenience is a large contributor to the issue as well.

“I stick with it on principle, but if I was far more lazy, I would just say ‘Ah, screw it’ and you know, not really try to separate as much as I do… a lot of the problem is general inconvenience,” says Slepkov.

“We create a lot of avoidable waste for the sake of convenience. “

“Same thing with organics: part of the problem is that many people want to try to separate their organics and they have these bins, then they have rodents getting into it, tipping it over, making a mess,” says Slepkov, “or people just didn’t get it to the road on time or something, next thing they know they have all these maggots and it turns people away from it.”

“There’s a large culture shift that has to go on,” says Slepkov.

“If we get that shifted within our society, if people become more conscientious of not creating excess waste needlessly, that fixes half the problem.”

“I wish they (Niagara region residents) could see the damage that’s being done to the environment. The amount of excess needless waste,” Slepkov says.

Another proposed option is mandatory use of clear bags for garbage. This is so that residents will be able to see any recyclables or organics in their trash so that they are able to remove it. As well, this would be beneficial to collection drivers, so any hazardous waste is visible.

“There have been reports where collection drivers have been cut by broken glass, hazardous waste that’s in there,” says Whitelaw.

Right now, the region’s diversion rate is at 56 per cent and Whitelaw explains that the initiatives in place are to drive an increase in the current diversion rate.

“Municipalities that have gone to every other week garbage or clear bags are in the 60 -70 per cent,” Whitelaw says, “and municipalities that have both clear bag and every other week is almost at 80 percent waste diversion.”

The third proposed option is a four-item limit on large items in low density residential areas, as they are the only areas eligible for large item collections.       At the moment, there is no limit on how many large items can be put out.

“Low density residential properties actually only set out an average of fewer than two large items per collection when they do put out these items,” Whitelaw says. So, this option wouldn’t pose a serious inconvenience on residents.

Slepkov filled out the survey and believes it is important for residents to do so as well.

“We’ve got to be able to go to our businesses and residents and try to get them more involved and interested,” says Slepkov.

“I don’t wish to be critical of the Region. They’ve done as good of job as they possibly can. It’s a bastard.”