After implementing a one-container garbage limit, the City of Hamilton, ON’s waste program helped to encourage residents to participate actively in waste diversion programs.

Raffaella Morello

 

It’s garbage day in the neighborhood in the City of Hamilton, ON.  Rather than seeing piles of garbage bags at the curb on a typical street, you will see households with recycling boxes, green carts for food waste collection, and one bag of garbage. This picture was not always the case.  In 2000, the City was facing a garbage crisis. The City’s population increased significantly over the past 30 years, placing additional demands on the City’s waste management system. At that time, the City had a nine-container limit for garbage and a 16 percent waste diversion rate. There was a recycling program in place; however, there was limited public education to encourage households to participate in the program.

 

The City’s Energy from Waste (EFW) facility processed most of the residential garbage.   Although the EFW facility was in operation for several decades, it was facing closure since it could not meet new provincial emission regulations. Upgrading the facility to meet the new regulations would come at a huge expense. The City’s landfill site was going to fill up sooner than expected if it had to take extra garbage because of the EFW’s closure. The City’s decision makers realized that major changes were necessary to avoid siting a new costly landfill.

 

Making Changes

In 2001, the City developed a solid waste management master plan geared to preserving the City’s landfill site by achieving an aggressive waste diversion target.  In four years, the City made substantial changes including construction of new waste diversion facilities, improvements to its public education program, and introducing new waste diversion programs in the community.

The driving force to achieve the waste diversion goal required progressive changes to the City’s garbage container limit.  The City went from a nine-container limit in 2000 to a six- container limit in 2002.  The garbage limit was reduced again in 2006 to a three-container limit once the City introduced its curbside “green cart” organics collection program.

 

The City’s waste diversion rate increased to 40 percent by 2006 after introducing the new waste diversion programs.  Although the waste diversion rate doubled in four years, City staff knew there were other opportunities to maximize the landfill’s lifespan.  In 2007, City staff presented several waste diversion strategies to the City Council that included user-pay systems, new waste diversion programs for multi-residential buildings and an additional decrease to the garbage container limit.   Some City Officials had reservations of having a user-pay system or using clear bags for all garbage. The City agreed to expand its organics collection program for multi-residential buildings, making it one of the first programs of its kind in Ontario. After significant public debate, the City approved a one-container limit for garbage.  There was concern from several officials about the public’s reaction to this change.

 

Public Reaction

Anyone who works in the waste management field can understand that trying to make changes to garbage container limits will create a public stir and this was no exception in Hamilton’s case. The garbage container limit was a hot topic in the community and the subject of several news articles in the local media. Public comments on the one-container limit were both in favor of the new limit, while others were against the change:

  • “It is so easy to reduce your waste to next to nothing if you just make the effort and recycle everything that you can.”
  • “One bag of garbage? Even when I lived by myself, I went through more than one bag of garbage  a week.”

 

Review and Research

Before adopting the one-container limit, the City completed extensive research that showed that most households could achieve the one-container limit. These studies included reviewing the waste tonnage collected and conducting waste audits to assess waste generation patterns for Hamilton residents. More than 80 percent of household waste is divertible through the City’s comprehensive recycling and organic waste collection programs. The waste audit results indicated that households generally set out 1.2 containers of garbage per week. The overall amount of garbage set out was less than 18 lbs. which was within the weight limits.

 

A Step-By-Step Approach

Between 2008 and 2010 the City used a phased approach to reduce the garbage container limit, which involved extensive public education efforts. At the outset, the City had to define one-container  as being either any size of garbage bag or a garbage can up to 36 gallons. The weight limit for the garbage bag or garbage can is 50 lbs. or less.

 

In 2008, there was a three-container limit in place; however, the City began promoting the voluntary one-container limit to educate the public on waste reduction.  This included an advertising campaign called “Are you the One?” to highlight methods being used by residents to reduce their household waste.

 

In 2009, the City had a “1+1” limit. The first container could be a garbage bag or garbage can.  If the resident needed a second container, it had to be a clear bag. The City allowed residents to place materials in shopping bags inside the clear bag for privacy issues. The one-container limit went into effect in April 2010. The City found that the phased approach allowed residents to adapt easily to the new change.

 

Adapting to Change

Altering garbage container limits creates significant public scrutiny therefore several strategies were necessary to allow the community to adapt to the change:

†   Amnesty from the One Container Limit—Between May 2010 and March 2013, the City offered amnesty weeks during the year to allow households to set out up to three containers of garbage. In April 2013, amnesty weeks were replaced with a trash tag system that allowed residents to set out additional garbage containers which have a trash tag.

†   Special Consideration Policy—Some households have unique circumstances making it challenging to comply with the one container limit.  To help with these scenarios, the City developed a special consideration policy for households with someone who has a medical condition, if there are two or more children under the age of four, registered home daycares and agricultural businesses. The special consideration policy allows these households to set out additional containers of garbage through an application process.

†   “Gold Box” Incentive Program—Many people like incentives and this is why the City created its gold box program to reward and recognize residents putting forth their best effort to divert their household waste. Residents have the opportunity to win a “gold box” and a financial reward by reducing their household garbage.  Gold box winners can proudly set out their gold boxes at the curb to show their neighbors they are super recyclers.

†   Customer Service—Waste program changes often generates questions from the public. The City ensured that it had proactive community outreach and customer service support to help the community with how they handle their waste materials.

 

Rising Waste Diversion Rate

In conclusion, the City found that the one-container garbage limit helped to encourage residents to participate actively in waste diversion programs. The City’s waste diversion rate rose to 49 percent after introducing the one-container limit.  Overall, the community was responsive to the change, with the majority of households complying with the new limit.

 

Raffaella Morello is a Project Manager with the City of Hamilton’s Operations Division. She can be reached at [email protected].

 

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