Comment 73124

By Lakeside (registered) | Posted January 17, 2012 at 13:38:53

When we talk about illegal dumping, does it make sense to group together household waste and construction waste, considering that construction waste is not ever eligible for curbside pickup?

It strikes me that, if you're looking for what causes people to dump (part of finding solutions, presumably), it would be wise to separate commercial dumping from residential dumping of household waste. The same for enforcement, and punishment.

Are we talking about someone disposing of a bag of kitchen waste in a receptacle in the park, or is it a dump-truck full of commercial waste being dumped in an alley?

The former situation could could be related to some real, or perceived, shortcomings in the collection regimen. In which case some adjustment of the program might be useful.

The latter case involving the truck is a simpler matter that can be addressed with increased enforcement and severe fines. (Temporary vehicle seizure, ala drinking and driving, would probably put a dent in it.) A scaled-down version of the surveillance program that was rejected by Council might be appropriate here.

Shouldn't our response to these different situations be tailored to the problem?

My point is that in the case of commercial dumping we can be sure there's no need to fine-tune the household program. These are clearly independent issues so let's not let the argument become muddied by this.

Personally, the program as it exists right now works for me, although I'd like to be able to put plastic films in the Green Bin, like in some other cities. It would be a real shame to roll back the program we have today for the sake of a few.

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