Garbage Collection Changing

[FallenPixels]

Watch for your mail box for a waste notice from the city. Included in it will be 12 trash bag tags.
They will no longer have weeks where you can get rid of 3 bags, you can use the trash tags instead.
If you need more, you can contact the city later for up to 14 more (its not clear if the additional ones are free)

[Ciel]

Fallen Pixels, I just read the councillors vs city staff debate over the rollout of the tags. Seems the full 26 tags are not coming with the guide. And there are unhappy councillors. BTW, our household is still waiting for the new guide that was advertised for Early March mailing (March 20 now!) in the community papers.
http://www.hamiltonnews.com/news/bag...-at-city-hall/

[miztia]

I must be living under a rock or something! This is the first Im hearing about it. So there is still the one bag limit per week but you can use additional tags if you need them? Up to 26 per year? Im sure around my neighborhood they will be setting up tag swaps/bartering. LOL

[KK7]

I have not gotton the new schudule but know that there really getting strict we use to always sneak out a bag extra at times and had no problems today we did due to some extra cleaning and they did not take it. I think it is good or bad it all depends if people follow through and act with manners I can actually see people stealing tags. I can't tell you how many times people have tryed even sneaking a bag over to my side or putting it right in my bin.

[FallenPixels]

Ciel, my post said that only 12 came with the info, that is what the city agreed on because they felt sending them all at once would encourage people to use them and they still want to reduce garbage.

Kim, mine will not take extras unless 3 bag week, they are really strict about it. On my street we have a woman who puts out a tiny little store bag of garbage, she lets me take mine to her lawn and put her bag in mine if I have extras (seriously 1 bag with cat litter is ridiculous). A house across the street is empty and someone put their bag on that curb, they didn't take it. The house has sold, what if it was the new homeowners?

miztia, there was some discussion about printing the address on the tags so they could not be swapped, never heard the end of the debate to know if that happened or not. As for living under a rock, I only heard about it when watching a livestream about the casino issue and was reminded when I went to check when 3 bag week was. They have been fairly quiet about it which is why I thought I would post it here

[Ciel]

Back when Mayor Eisenberger was in his last term in the city, he was recorded in an article about wanting Hamilton to import garbage from other municipalities to make money for the landfill (Hamilton has just 1)-this development after months of wrangling about residents having to go towards a 1 container or bag system! I was not amused.
I think Hamilton will be in Toronto's spot soon about not having space for its own garbage if Hamilton keeps making residents cut back yet invite garbage from elsewhere to come here. Not good optics. They would improve only if Hamilton had Guelph's system of turning garbage into energy-Guelph also has a few differences: higher focus on composting and if I remember correctly, only clear bags can be used to put garbage, recyclables and compost at the curb. Not sure buying more bags will work in Hamilton! Kind of like the cart system for compost-we needed a couple of cart sizes from the outset of the program.
Best thing that council did in past year was provide a 3-bag/container week for each month! Sometimes people have visitors or a reno or repair that occur outside of major holiday weekends and garbage has to go out!

The Ancaster councillor wrote in his column in the Ancaster News about the 26 tags coming out with the guide. To see this week that staff had a different implementation schedule is showing bureaucracy in motion. People have enough things going on in a week to have to keep track of split schedules/rollouts/changing utility rates (May 1 peak periods for electricity change) that seeing you have to call in for the second part of your allotted tags is more work than needed.

[FallenPixels]

I keep an eye on city hall and it amazes me how often the councillors are in and out (or just out) of city hall on important decisions. On more than one occasion when I watched the stream, they had to email and call councillors back to chamber to have quorum to be able to vote - those people were voting without being there for any discussion so it never surprises me when they say oh I didn't know

I complained a few months back when my blue bin was smashed by them throwing it back to the curb from mid street, my local councillor apologised, said they are discussing it and he would let me know about a public meeting the neighbourhood association was having and drop me off a new bin. I read about the meeting in the local paper after it happened and 2 months later and no bin

Part of the issue on this deal was they did not know what they were really voting on, they were discussing going to bi-weekly pickup, potetially with unlimited bags, next thing one person says it should be weekly and 2 bags, then a few councillors come back into chamber and say they discussed it in a back room deal and this is their proposal - with enough people to vote on it. The councillors back room deals and going incamera so people can't see the discussion is as much as a problem as city staff (who I agree, overstep all the time)

[Ciel]

The only way to get a municipal blue box is to visit a municipal centre to obtain one or two, as you'd have to provide your Hamilton address. I'd be surprised if a councillor or neighbourhood group was arranging dropoffs of blue boxes, given the number of people and logistics (storage/transportation) that would involve.
I still remember the shiny new yellow-orange delivery trucks that delivered those full-size green carts into neighbourhoods during Mayor di Ianni's time (in his last year of office)! Yes, that spring and summer was memorable for spotting the trucks on travels all over the city.
If I don't see a guide in the mailbox by Wednesday, I'm going to a municipal service centre and asking questions.

[tccl21]

Last time our bin went missing, we went to the City Hall building in Ancaster and just signed a paper with our name and address and they gave us a new bin.

We are managing fine with the 1 bag limit, but there are times when we have more garbage. Usually it's because of some sort of party or project so we'll just go to the dump with it and pay the $8. We always have about 4 blue bins full of recycling and sometimes more and then it's easier for us to just drive it to the dump rather that sort it all out and carry it to the curb.

It would be nice if we could swap tags. I don't see what the issue is - either way an extra bag is going to landfill, whether you put it there or I put it there, what's the difference?

[Sunshyne1]

There is no charge for the extra 14 tags you can get. But after the initial 12 and the extra 14 are used you can't get anymore for that year.

We won't use all of our tags...we normally only have half a bag to go out. But there are those weeks when we've had people down or just seem to have more garbage that these tags will come in handy. We do try to recycle as often as we can, but sometimes there's items that don't fall into the recycling categories and they have to go into our regular garbage.
Here's a link that answers quite a few questions:
http://www.hamilton.ca/CityServices/...ng+Changes.htm

[miztia]

Just got my tags in the mail today. There is no specific address on them.

[FallenPixels]

[FallenPixels]

On a side note, my older recycling bin died today when they threw it from the street again, it is the second one I have lost at pickup
I guess I will have to find time to pop by and get another one

[Sunshyne1]

On a side note, my older recycling bin died today when they threw it from the street again, it is the second one I have lost at pickup
I guess I will have to find time to pop by and get another one

Thats always a pain in the butt too because their hours aren't that great and then i have to use a Saturday to go pick up a new one.

[tccl21]

We got our tags today too. I'll keep an eye out for extras in case anyone on here wants more.

I can't believe the city would go to all the trouble of getting everyone used to the 1 bag limit. It's been a few years now and just when you think everyone should have the hang of it, they start this program. I don't get it. It seems like they are undoing all the work they did. I recycle, but this just makes it too easy to not be as vigilant. Way to backtrack, Hamilton.