Green cart for compost goes live (was trial)

[Xtrema]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmont...hina-1.4468201

Hmm, new Chinese policy may increase our recycling cost.

[adam c]

Side note, or black bin was supposed to be picked up today and wasn’t, none of my neighbors were either...

[J-hop]

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Side note, or black bin was supposed to be picked up today and wasn’t, none of my neighbors were either...

Leave it out for sure. Our timing recently changed from like 5pm to 7am

[adam c]

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Leave it out for sure. Our timing recently changed from like 5pm to 7am

Perhaps that’s it, has always been 630-7am since I’ve lived in this house

[J-hop]

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Perhaps that’s it, has always been 630-7am since I’ve lived in this house

Yea was really annoying when it switched as I always used to put the bins out as I walk by them on my way to work. While I’m getting ready I hear the truck drive by....

[suntan]

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I do every time, and it usually takes 1-2 days for the collection people to call me, and then they tell me "I'll see if one of my guys can come get it in a few days", which usually leads right up to the next collection day. Sometimes sooner, but only for the black bin.

Wow WTF is wrong with them? My accountant's co-worker would also have hers not picked up, she said someone came that day and did it.

[rage2]

I overcooked, over ordered, and cleaned out my fridge of old leftovers this week to see how much I can fill this green bin.

[schocker]

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I overcooked, over ordered, and cleaned out my fridge of old leftovers this week to see how much I can fill this green bin.

I am only able to generate one bag a week for my green bin. Bin is always dirtier from the truck than when it was put out also. I have filled it with branches 1 time and don't plan to put grass into it as I mulch.

[cancer man]

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I overcooked, over ordered, and cleaned out my fridge of old leftovers this week to see how much I can fill this green bin.

You are wasteful that is twice as much as me. I feed the birds and i mulch and i use my sticks for smoking. Zero use for my bin. anybody wants it come pick it up.

[speedog]

Green bins, blue bins, black bins - y'all got to suck it up bcause they're here to stay. Pissing and moaning about them isn't going to change anything. The fees, well we'll either pay for them directly through our utility bills or indirectly through our property taxes - one way or another the CoC will get the money out of us.

The simple fact remains that we produce a lot of refuse, whether recyclable, compostable or neither, and none of that is going to change any time soon either. Combine that with the fact that landfill space in Calgary is disappearing quite quickly and the cost of building a new landfill is probably fairly expensive just in land costs alone and the blue and green bins start to make sense. Add into the new landfill scenario all of the zoning issues plus no one wants a landfill as a neighbor and the issue just gets more difficult.

Yeah, many of you don't come even close to filling that green bin but since it's been at our place we don't even generate a full bag of garbage on a biweekly basis for our black bin. The real problem now is what to do with all of that collected recycled material and I suspect compost as well although compost could easily be sold at cheap rates as an additive for farmland. As far as recycled material, somehow markets have to be created to get rid of it. China doesn't want it anymore or doesn't wanna lot of it and the only way I see things changing is with government intervention - placing surtaxes on products made with virgin materials. Paper made rom pulp, products made from virgin plastic, bottles not made from recycled glass. It can be done but it won't happen as long as things remain status quo.

Personally, we do not create a lot of cardboard refuse but I fully understand why many do. If China no longer wants recycled cardboard then a market has to be created elsewhere for that. As far as styrofoam, I do understand the issue is it breaking down into little pieces that clog up the equipment at recycling processing centers - maybe the solution is for governments to ban the use of styrofoam products. Packaging can be done with cornstarch peanuts and innovative paper products and the food industry could move to something akin to a tetra pack type of material (which is recyclable) but none of this will happen unless governments force it to be so.

So piss and moan if you wish but it won't resolve anything. We are part of the problem and unfortunately there are too few people who are actually trying to address the problem. Yeah, a lot of them are elected officials but they have the added complexity of trying to address the refuse problem as well as being judiciously responsible at the same time - a very tough balancing act when you can not just readily and easily get rid of collected refuse materials.

Honstly, some of you sound like spoiled little brats throwing a temper tantrum because you're not getting your things your way. Maybe act like the adults or the old people you acclaim to be and react accordingly.

[Kjonus]

Well put "Speedog"

[bjstare]

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[rant about pissing and moaning]

98% of beyond is just someone pissing and moaning about something, what makes this thread any different?

[rage2]

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Green bins, blue bins, black bins - y'all got to suck it up bcause they're here to stay. Pissing and moaning about them isn't going to change anything. The fees, well we'll either pay for them directly through our utility bills or indirectly through our property taxes - one way or another the CoC will get the money out of us.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not bitching about the existence of the green bins. We've been composting before the green bin came into play. That's not the problem. My problem is the 50% reduction of black bin pickup with a minor gripe that fees stayed the same, while green bins are on a much too frequent schedule, with additional fees tacked on. The city just handled it poorly from the get go.

We use a lot of stuff. I get it. It's our problem for having a large family and lots of guests. I can afford to do runs to the dump, but I'm sure there are others that can't, so yes, it's definitely worth bitching and reaching out to your local councilor that the city did a piss poor job managing this.

Speaking of dumps, can't go on weekends anymore, 1h+ lineups to get in haha.

[Xtrema]

There is definitely some efficiency to be had with pick ups and go back to 1 day.

From Oct to Apr, it should be blue weekly and green/black alternate week.

From May to Sep, it should be green weekly and blue/black alternate week.

That will eliminate 1/4 of the pick up runs.

Like it's under 0c most of the time in winter, the green bin stink a lot less and can be picked up less frequent.

[ExtraSlow]

Union workforce won't allow them to cut hours that much for half the year or hire temporary labour for summer.

[Xtrema]

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Union workforce won't allow them to cut hours that much for half the year or hire temporary labour for summer.

Well we went from 1 pick up per week to 2 pick up per week to 2.5 pick up per week. That's 150% increase already. All I'm asking is going back to 100% increase.

[dirtsniffer]

Is it really a net benefit to the environment to ship recycling to china? Seems to me that just burying it here would be more responsible. (Too lazy to find relevant thread)

[phreezee]

Last month was the first time my green cart was full! I cut up our Christmas tree and put it in there.

[Xtrema]

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Is it really a net benefit to the environment to ship recycling to china? Seems to me that just burying it here would be more responsible. (Too lazy to find relevant thread)

Stay underground thousands of years or repurpose in 3-5 years and less extraction of oil? There is net benefit. But probably not cheapest way to go about it.

[J-hop]

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Stay underground thousands of years or repurpose in 3-5 years and less extraction of oil? There is net benefit. But probably not cheapest way to go about it.

I think he’s getting at the amount of fuel consumed just to get it to China. Then is China really the best (green) place to be repurposing it?

Hard to say if it’s currently a net environmental benefit in my eyes with all the factors considered. But probably a step in the right direction in terms of spearheading the move to repurposing materials.