Toronto is phasing out garbage bags. Every household is being provided with a garbage bin, and we pay an annual fee based on the size of our bin. Garbage is collected every two weeks.
The annual fees depends on the size of your bin:
- Small Garbage Bin: size of one garbage bag, $10 rebate
- Medium Garbage Bin = 1 ½ bags ($39/yr.*)
- Large Garbage Bin = 3 bags ($133/yr.*)
- Extra-Large Garbage Bin =4 ½ bags ($190/yr.*)
The bins have an awkward shape, some of the space is unusable, especially the small bins which have a raised floor. Good luck stuffing a garbage bag in the small bin.
Tagged garbage bags may be placed next to the bin for collection. The city will give every household 5 free tags, additional tags will cost $3.10 and can be purchased at Home Hardware stores. Extra garbage may also be brought to a transfer station, for a fee, and you’d definitely need a car.
We have a small bin. Moving to a medium-sized bin would cost $49/year ($39 + losing the $10 credit) which is equivalent to the price of 16 tags. The medium bin holds an additional ½ bag, which amounts to 13 bags per year. The additional bags would be used for garbage that can’t fit in the medium bin anyway, so we’ll keep the small bin.
Bulky items will continue to be collected separately at no cost. I can already imagine sneaky people cutting their old spring mattresses open, stuffing them full of garbage and then stitching them back shut.
Product packaging will definitely become an issue. I believe this is the beginning of the end for bulky packaging – hopefully companies will move to reusable packaging that will be removed at the store and sent back.
Overall, I think it is a good move that will significantly reduce the amount of garbage we produce. Waste is now separated in 3 categories: biodegradable, recyclable and garbage. The size limits provide strong incentives for us to properly separate our waste so that it can be composted or recycled, with very little waste sent to a landfill site.
Of course, this will require additional law enforcement. If you think about it, the $3.10 fee for additional bags is fairly low, it’s not worth it to sneak around in the middle of the night to dump garbage in a park.
This should begin on November 1st.
Lots of info here: http://www.toronto.ca/target70/qa.htm