A Montreal Borough Is Trying Garbage Pickup Every 2 Weeks & Some People Are Trashing It
The idea is to get people to compost and recycle more.
This stinks. Some people are trashing a planned pilot project that will move garbage collection to only once every two weeks in part of Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. The pilot will cover two areas of the Montreal borough, totalling dozens of blocks.
Officials in Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve hope the schedule change will make people think twice about their garbage sorting habits and consider waste in a more ecologically-friendly way.
Online, the borough says the ultimate goal is to reduce the amount of waste that ends up in landfills — waste that produces the greenhouse gas methane.
Apparently, 85% of the materials found in the garbage in Montreal can be sorted into compost, recycling or other disposal methods.
Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve's website says Gatineau, Longueuil, Terrebonne, Toronto, Calgary and Ottawa already have bi-weekly garbage collection.
Locally, it seems the plan already has its opponents, though. In a Reddit thread, several people voiced their displeasure with the plan.
Some have argued that homes on the borough's dense residential streets aren't able to accommodate large garbage containers. Others have expressed concerns about odour from two-week stockpiles of dirty diapers.
Still others said they approved of the plan and encouraged residents to focus on increasing their compost output.
The borough addresses many of these concerns in an online Q&A section. It argues, for one, that making use of other disposal methods like compost and recycling could reduce the weight of household garbage by 78%.
As for potential odour issues, Mercier-Hochelaga-Maisonneuve says residents should rinse bins with water or scrub them with vinegar and baking soda or dish soap.
Despite the criticism, the borough will carry on with the pilot starting at the end of February 2022.
Residents of these sectors are going to receive a collection calendar and info pamphlets about the project.
This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.
