Centretown residents are answering Ottawa’s massive garbage collection survey with concerns specific to highrise homes.
“In our building, they have a garbage chute on every floor, so it’s so easy for people to throw things down the garbage chute,” says Marcella Daye, who lives in an apartment on MacLaren Street. “There are no recycling chutes.”
There aren’t any compost chutes or pick-ups either.
If the city decides to collect regular garbage every two weeks, Daye’s apartment building garbage bins might fill up.
That’s why the city is asking for feedback on waste collection options. Its new survey includes questions specific to apartment buildings and condominiums, so that city officials will soon have a clear picture of Centretown’s trash situation.
“They have really good questions about what would most encourage people in highrises to (recycle and compost), whether it’s the cost or the convenience,” Daye said in an interview after answering survey questions at the Rideau Centre last Saturday.
Ottawa’s six-year contract for public garbage, recycling and compost disposal ends in 2012. The city can extend it one more year, but officials are already discussing options for the next long-term contract.
Last November, the city had 80 Ottawa households keep journals tracking their garbage bags and recycling bins. Next, pollsters interviewed another 2,000 residents by telephone.
Now, the city is asking for feedback from all residents – and answers are coming in a torrent. A survey website was launched on Jan. 6 and 400 Ottawa residents responded within 24 hours. City officials are also soliciting comments at a booth that will finish its tour of 11 malls and community centres by Feb. 1.
The main question is what residents would think of revised collection schedules. The city is considering collecting garbage every second week and green-bin compost weekly over the entire year. Currently, garbage is collected weekly and compost is collected every second week during the winter. Officials say the change could save the city $5 million per year and delay the eventual need for more landfills.
Another proposed change is to collect recycling every week (instead of every second week) and to let residents recycle using one bin instead of separate paper and plastic bins.
Centretown residents in particular are keen for environmentally friendly changes.
“I think just demographically Centretown attracts a different type of person. We’re probably people who aren’t interested in using cars so much,” says Daye. “I think that tends to attract people who will default more to the environmental solution.”
But in most Centretown homes, the environmental solution is a hassle. According to the 2006 census, 52 per cent of Somerset Ward dwellings are apartments in buildings of five or more storeys. Another 30 per cent of dwellings nest in smaller apartment buildings.
“We have no green-bin service for highrise condos,” says Don Lowdon, a retired Centretown resident. “So we are a little concerned about going to (twice-a- month) garbage pick-up.”
Linda Lowdon agrees and explains that the green bin program is meant to reduce regular garbage so pick-ups shouldn’t be needed as often. That doesn’t apply to condominiums yet.
“The solution for us is we’d all like a green bin,” she says.
The city is planning a pilot study for green bins in highrise condominium and apartment buildings.