I noticed that Grande Prairie’s water and waste utility Aquatera Utilities Inc. has been slapping itself on the back over the new curbside recycling program. Don’t get me wrong. I like the convenience of the curbside recycling.

I think they have it backwards though.

Last year there was all this hype about the new garbage pick up system where Aquatera would provide a garbage can to each home in Grande Prairie. This bin can be picked up by an arm on the garbage truck and save the wear and tear on the folks whose job it is to pick up the garbage. Fair enough. It is well documented (or so I have heard) how this physical labor can wear on a person over the years. Along with this was the idea that we would eventually go to a two garbage bag limit. This would force people to start recycling more. The strange thing is that the garbage cans they supplied will easily hold three full standard size garbage bags. When I pointed this out on Twitter it was suggested by Aquatera that drivers picking up the garbage would check to make sure there were only 2 bags. I find this hard to believe as these same drivers do not seem to get out of the truck to pick the garbage can off the ground and stand it up right should it inadvertently fall over due to the action of the lifting arm. So let’s just assume that the people of Grande Prairie will fill it to the max when they need to.

Fast forward to present day. Curbside recycling comes in. Aquatera announces that we have to use clear blue bags so they can check that what we are throwing out is actually recyclable. You can throw out as much recycling as you want as long as it is bagged and carboard is bundled underneath the bags.

At our house we recycle and we compost. I would say we are lucky if we produce two full Glad Kitchen Catchers of garbage per week. So in front of my house on garbage day I have this huge plastic garbage can that contains two grocery bag sized bags of garbage. A truck comes along and lifts this garbage bin with its power arm. Beside it on the curb I have two clear full size blue bags of recycling stacked on top of some bundled cardboard. Another truck comes around and the driver loads it on to the truck by hand.

Hmm.

Here is what I would have suggested: Citizens can put as much recycling in the garbage can as will fit and you are only allowed to toss out one clear bag of actual garbage per week. This would force the household to recycle its cans, paper and cardboard. The majority of the stuff thrown away would be safely contained in the plastic garbage can that could be lifted by the truck’s mechanical arm. The clear garbage bag would reveal whether or not you were tossing out recyclables. It would also keep the extra one or two blue garbage bags out of the waste management system.

This would suit my purposes more. Perhaps you have your own ideas!