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8/17/2012
A new report says its not worth it to change the way garbage is collected in public areas.
It would cost too much to have separate garbage and recycling bins and probably wouldn't be safe according to the findings that are going to a council committee next week.
"They're often highly contaminated," Connie Boyce, the director of community relations for the city's waste management branch says of attempts to have blue bins next to bins for regular litter.
"The material can not be processed at the recycling facility, its just too contaminated and it often has hazardous material in it as well," Boyce said comparing what you're likely to find in your garbage cans and blue bags at home.
So the solution is to take the 300 tonnes of garbage collected from public cans, and burn it.
"We would still be recycling it in a different way. We would be producing bio fuel rather than actually that separate it as you do with traditional recycling programs."
The 300 tonnes compares to the 200,000 tonnes collected from house holds each year.
"It is a small fraction of the over all waste stream."
But had they tried a pilot project of separating the two, it would have cost $180,000, just to cover several blocks between Rice Howard Way and Jasper avenue downtown, and along a six block stretch of Whyte avenue that would use 60 receptacles.
The city's Transportation and Infrastructure Committee will review the report on Tuesday. (sj, lk)
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