Coming up at tomorrow’s Region of Halton Planning & Public Works meeting will be a report on the Blue Box Litter Containment Study. As some might remember this past spring, there were a number of days that were very windy not only in ward 6 but everywhere in the town of Milton.
During these windy days of spring, a number of people came home daily to piles of recycled waste all over lawns, in parks and along the sides of many roads. It almost came to be expected that whatever day your garbage was to be collected, the wind would blow it away.
I never really saw it as much of a problem since the Blue Box program began many moons ago, but this time it felt different. Every week the number of email’s I received would increase. “Why is the garbage all over the place?” “What is the town going to do with all the flying garbage?”
Garbage collection in Milton is handled by the Region of Halton and after a few windy weeks, it was brought up at Regional Council and hence this report was prepared.
From the report the recommendation is as follows:
RECOMMENDATION
The report outlines a number of different options in order to handle the flying recycling debris problem that Milton has faced over since this past spring, including lids on the blue boxes, accepting recycled materials in clear plastic bags, or going to the “new standard” 22 gallon blue box.
Obviously there will be additional costs to the Region to order, produce and deliver these new 22 gallon Blue Boxes which will be subsidized by taxpayers.
Is this something you feel is needed at this point? Can the Region provide better communications / instruction to homeowners to better pack their blue boxes in order to avoid this flying debris problem we’re just now facing?
To give you an idea, here’s the financial impact from the report:
FINANCIAL/PROGRAM IMPLICATIONS
Based on the annual average number of Blue Boxes distributed each year, the cost increase as a result of implementing the 22 gallon Blue Box as the new standard is an estimated $28,600 per year.
The annual purchase of 2,000 Blue Boxes with an affixed lid is estimated to be $30,000.
As a result, a total of $58,600 will be incorporated into the 2013 Budget and Business Plan for consideration.
Let me know what you think in the comments or email me mike@mikecluett.ca – on Twitter www.twitter.com/mike_cluettor Facebook!