Ottawa's Green Bin Program - Time for City Council to Lead

An Open Letter to Ottawa City Council and Residents
RE: Residential Solid Waste Service Level Review Recommendations

This open letter is being posted on my blog, The Fifth Column ( http://the5thc.blogspot.com/ ) and being sent via email to the the following city councillors:
Jim.Watson@ottawa.ca
Allan.Hubley@ottawa.ca
Marianne.Wilkinson@ottawa.ca
David.Chernushenko@ottawa.ca

There is a time for politicians to follow and a time for politicians to lead. If one of our goals is to make Ottawa a Green City then Ottawa City Council will have to provide leadership to make it happen.

We will never become a Green City if City Council punishes those that are doing the right thing and rewards those that are part of the problem.

There have been issues raised regarding animals getting into Green Bins and maggots in Green Bins. I have never had these issues with our Green Bin, probably because the Green Bins are more secure than most garbage cans. However, I have had them with our garbage containers, but very few times over 30 years living in Ottawa. The fact is that the colour of the container has nothing to do with these problems.

These problems relate to organic waste so the best way to eliminate or reduce them is to increase how often the organic waste is picked up and that is what the recommended plan does.

So the solution is really simple. Residents just need to use the system the way it is designed. Recyclables go into the Blue and Black Bins, organics into the Green Bin and what little is left, mainly non-recyclable excessive packaging, goes into the garbage (which could be picked up monthly as far as I am concerned).

As far as using the Green Bin being more costly or complicated, it need not be. We do not need to listen to those that see this as an opportunity to sell us more products like specialized bags that contradict the very idea behind the Green Bin of eliminating and reducing unnecessary waste. Nor do we need to listen to the media that think they are being helpful by suggesting all sorts of complicated solutions to non-existing problems.

We do not use a bag for our kitchen container, indeed rather than the container that came with the Green Bin we use a kitchen garbage can without any liner and dump it into the Green Bin when full. This is more convenient as it is larger and needs dumping less often. We rinse it clean about once a week.

The Green Bin would probably not need lining either but we have cats and find the kitty litter does stick to the plastic so we line it with old newspapers. I put newspapers along the bottom and up the sides a bit and then all along the sides from the top to cover the inside completely. I did have to slightly compromise my "not buy anything new" policy by using a very small amount of masking tape to help hold the newspaper to the sides of the bin at the top. That was a ten minute job the first time and under five minutes each time since and it does not need to be done each week as often the lining remains in the bin after dumping.


You can also use outdoor composting bags by cutting them down a few inches but that again requires more unnecessary consumption and waste.

It is very clear that there really should not be any controversy here. All that is required is for people to use the waste reduction and collection system the way it is designed to be used.

Unless the City wants to abandon any hope of being a Green City, City Council must support those that are doing the right thing, not those that are part of the problem.


To read more about my views on the Green Bin Program please see The Fifth Column: Why Sabotage The Green Bin Program

The Green Bin Program - Simple Works

This is a follow-up to Why Sabotage The Green Bin Program.

Today was Green Bin Day and even though I untaped the newspaper lining it stayed in the bin so I don't have to reline it. I just retaped the top and it should be good for another two weeks. Eventually I will have to dump the lining in the bin and start over but it looks like I get at least one month per 5 minutes spent lining the bin.

Seems pretty simple to me. No need for expensive and wasteful bin liners.

Why Sabotage The Green Bin Program

It is clear to me that there are some people that would like to sabotage Ottawa's Green Bin program and I do not understand why. Unfortunately Ottawa City Council has seemed to be an ally, if an unwitting one, to those that would seek to see the program fail.

Ottawa City Council has played into the hands of those that would love to see the program fail - the haters. The worse thing that the City has done was to help perpetrate they myth that the program will cost the city money rather than save money. They did this by proposing to pay for it with a special levy on residential taxes only, and by continuing to emphasize the direct costs of the program without any reference to the savings from the program.

Of course the direct costs are easy to estimate. On the other hand, estimating the costs of finding new landfill sites, if any are available, or alternatively the costs of shipping our garbage who knows where for an indefinite period of time are unknown, but certainly greater than the costs of diverting that garbage into the Green Bin composting program.

But what were taxpayers told. We were told that this is a new program that is going to cost us money. It is as if we were not previously paying to dispose of the garbage that will be diverted to the Green Bin program.

While the City has conducted an extensive public relations campaign they have not addressed directly the myths perpetrated by the haters.

For instance, the false concerns raised about vermin or maggots being attracted to the compost in the bins, ignoring the fact that we have always been putting our organic kitchen garbage out for collection in bins, only before we called them garbage cans. Nothing has changed except that the new Green Bins have a fairly secure locking device, better than most garbage cans.

The city also played into the hands of the haters by continuing weekly garbage collection. With recycling and composting, the only things that are left in the garbage are non-recyclable excess packaging and non-repairable broken household appliances and such - nothing that cannot keep for two weeks. It would make much more sense to collect those things every two weeks and the organic compost weekly. But instead, the city listened to the irrational arguments of the haters.

The city, and other well meaning people, including media fluff writers, have helped sabotage the program by making it seem much more complicated than it needs to be with all their helpful hints about freezing the waste (where was that idea when we were putting it in garbage cans) and buying all sorts of special bags to hold it.

First of all, buying special bags for the compost goes against the whole principle of Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. We want to first reduce what we consume - how does buying more stuff help do that.

It does not have to be complicated. For the first few weeks I simply put the kitchen waste in a plastic kitchen container (I used my existing compost pail but the one provided with the Green bin would work fine) and periodically dumped it into the Green Bin in the garage. Every couple of days I used a broom handle to loosen up the compost in the bin and when it came time for pickup there was no problem.

Since then I have refined my methodology, picking up the hint to use old newspapers to line the bin. I put newspapers along the bottom and up the sides a bit and then all along the sides from the top to cover the inside completely. I did have to slightly compromise my "not buy anything new" policy by using a very small amount of masking tape to help hold the newspaper to the sides of the bin at the top. That was a ten minute job the first time as I figured out the methodology and likely five minutes each time from now on.


Simple works. All it takes is caring and a few minutes of time to help save the city, taxpayers, and ultimately yourself money and to reduce the amount of garbage going into landfill and help the planet.

If you're not part of the solution you're part of the problem.