Wasted

I can't overcome my most supreme disappointment with the Durham Region waste management system. It's a joke that has done nothing for me but pissed me off over the past couple years.

Realize first that I like to dispose of waste and recyclables properly. I was part a of handful of volunteers who pioneered a municipal recycling program, and was even considered to be its leader except for my mid-teen age, trudging through the trash that people gave us in a school parking lot to sort the items for proper disposal. My entire family was involved and we did this for a number of years.

But Durham Region, it seems, wants me to put all my trash into the green garbage bag. Oh, they're not explicit about it, but their actions drive me closer to the brink of giving up and trashing it all. I've been at constant battle with the guy who picks up my recyclables at the curbside, who is not the same as the trash guy. The recycling guy will always leave me something behind and I couldn't understand why for the longest time. Turns out the Region won't accept certain types of recyclable plastic (that other regions will accept, like Toronto), because they don't have a buyer for the end product. So for plastic, it's pretty much bottles only. You know those nice plastic tray that come with most food items? Not acceptable. But will they store them so that one day when a buyer is found they can be properly recycled? Oh no? Trash it, they say. Styrofoam? Trash. Not so in Toronto. Scrap metal that doesn't resemble a tin can? Trash.

WTF? I thought we were trying to divert trash from landfills? And do you think the pickup guy could return my two blueboxes and green bin to the side of my driveway so I don't have to park in the middle of the street when I get home from work to move them first? Not a chance. But there IS a good chance that there's a healthy amount of perfect paper left inside one of them anyway because the guy is too lazy/stupid to check and make sure the box is empty.

Now I'm doing a major spring cleanup of my basement and I fill the first of many carloads from my basement collection of useless junk covered in 3 years of dust and animal dander. This was 4 days ago and I'm still recovering from my allergies. I fill my station wagon right to the brim and drive to the local dump on a Saturday, because the website says that they're open Saturdays, closes Sundays, Mondays and holidays. Saturday, not a holiday, came after Good Friday, a holiday, and before Easter Sunday, also a holiday. When I arrive at the entrance, what am I greeted with but a locked gate and not one, but two vehicles making disgruntled u-turns in the entryway. The nicely produced sign "Closed Easter Weekend" hangs nicely in front of the gate. So on this nice long weekend where many people might take advantage of the time to do a little cleaning, we are cut off at the pass. Now what do I do with this carload of crap that I was anticipating getting rid of? I need my car during the weekdays, and I'm not trudging the unwanted treasure back down into the basement, so I have to unload it into my garage until I can fill the car back up again in a week, because they're not open Mondays remember (which as a government work I had off too and could've used).

How about that nice green bin kitchen waste recovery system that's been implemented? Good in theory, but the brown Biosak biodegradable bags they want us to use break down in a matter of a couple days, in the bin on the kitchen counter, before it can get to the larger outdoor green bin. Okay, so the brown bags are flaky and leak all over the place, but these green biodegradable bags from Glad last longer and the box says they're the same thing. Well after using them successfully for weeks, garbage pickup guy decides they're no longer acceptable and leaves me, without any notice, two weeks worth of rotting kitchen waste of a full green bin behind at the curb. Now I've got to hang onto this thing for another week. It's a good thing it's winter and the smell's bearable. Guess what happened to the nice green bags? You guess it, into the big green bag with the rest of the trash. Now I've taken to putting a nice green bag inside a crappy brown bag so that I can fill it in the kitchen, it won't leak, and once tied up will pass the brown bag inspection test at the curb!

I got thinking, our nice little consumer society has us all prepped for buying goods, which I wholeheartedly enjoy, but our waste disposal system REALLY sucks. And those new goods have a lot of packagine waste to get rid of. No wonder Tony Soprano was in the business, it's a goldmine for the private industry. Which makes me think maybe I should call 1-800-GOT-JUNK instead and get them to haul away my crap? I would never even thing of endorsing it because it's unsightly and inconsiderate, but I'm starting to see why there's a lot of illegal roadside dumping in the area. I'd like to do the right thing, but dammit, the local government is doing their damndest to ensure that I don't.

Smarten up guys! Get a functional system in order like a civilized country should have.