While some District councillors expressed concern about an impending switch to clear plastic garbage bags, they ultimately voted in favour of moving ahead with the program.
During this week’s District of Muskoka Engineering and Public Works committee meeting, councillors voted to move ahead with the program in principle.
Muskoka Lakes Mayor Peter Kelley said the District has done a poor job in explaining to the public why a change to clear plastic bags is required.
“The clear bag is a last resort…it should only be for continued non-compliance,” said Kelley.
Gravenhurst Mayor Heidi Lorenz said the District has done everything in its power to encourage change but has had limited success. The clear bag program has now become necessary.
“This is the last stop,” she said. “We have one of the worst diversion rates in the entire province.’
There was general approval for the clear bag program but there were also concerns about the availability of clear bags and the training required for waste collectors to implement the new system.
District staff advised that waste collectors will be trained in the new system and the allowable limits of certain materials in curbside garbage collection.
“Our intent is not to punish people by denying them having their garbage collected,” said Renee Recoskie, the director of waste management and environmental services for the District of Muskoka.
She said there have also already been high-level discussions with garbage bag manufacturers to ensure the supply chain is in place for clear plastic bags.
According to a staff report the transition is being proposed for several reasons.
One is worker health and safety, as clear bags help the collector identify potential hazards like broken glass needles or other sharp or combustible items.
Clear bags also serve as a reminder for people if they forget to separate materials that don’t belong in the garbage like recyclables, organics or hazardous waste.
Clear bags can also help with enforcing municipal material disposal bans by allowing waste collectors to monitor for compliance and reject any bags that contain those banned items, says Recoskie.
The biggest concern from the public appears to be surrounding the issue of privacy, she says.
“These concerns have been raised in most transitioning municipalities, where residents may be concerned with others being able to see what is in their garbage,” reads the report. “The most effective way to resolve and address these concerns is to allow for a small number of opaque privacy bags within the clear garbage bag and to allow residents to place their clear bag within a garbage can/bear bin.”
The initial approach for the District will be to allow two small opaque privacy bags (similar size to plastic grocery bags) and remain consistent with current collection practices (i.e., bag within garbage can, bear bin, etc.). It is also proposed that black bags continue to be accepted at District waste drop-off facilities in 2025, with a full transition to clear bags starting January 1, 2026.
In response to concerns over cost, Recoskie indicated both clear plastic and opaque plastic garbage bags are manufactured from the same type of plastic resin and dyes are added to colour bags. The suggested retail price between the two is similar.
She also indicated that waste diversion rates can increase by as much as 10% when the clear garbage bag program is initiated.
Some 40 Ontario municipalities have successfully implemented the clear bag program.
The initial launch of the clear bag program is proposed for the collection week starting March 3, 2025.
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Toronto is starting to use modern, quiet, electric non-emitting garbage trucks with mechanical arms.
While the big environmental concern in Muskoka is clear bags.
Electric with mechanical arms is half the labour cost as well as a fraction of the cost to maintain and operate.
The bigger the vehicle the bigger the cost saving going EV.
Search the article “Toronto’s First Electric Garbage Truck.”
Muskoka is stuck in the past.
Clear bags? That is the latest environmental concern?
While Muskoka still uses old fashioned, noisy, diesel garbage trucks that annoy residents, especially early in the morning, and still manually picks up the trash?
There is no health and safety issue with mechanical arms picking up the garbage and dumping it.
What about the diesel fumes, greenhouse gas and noise from the old fashioned garbage trucks?
Let alone the very high operating cost.
It’s too bad the latest garbage contract didn’t specify moving to modern, quiet, non-emitting electric garbage trucks with half the labour cost using an arm that picks up and dumps the garbage automatically. Batteries continue to plunge in cost for EVs. Range of a garbage truck per day is short so the battery can be small. Charge up overnight for peanuts cost compared to diesel.
Hybrids also drastically cut fuel use and cost, emissions and noise.
Many areas have been using trucks with a single driver and arms like that for many years already to avoid the labour cost and strain injuries.
Any vehicle that starts and stops a lot, like garbage trucks, pays back going electric much faster since a huge amount of fuel is used per km every time the engine roars to get the truck moving then brakes squeal to stop it again in only 20 metres or so.
With electric the quiet motor starts the truck moving then regen recovers a lot of the energy bringing it to a stop again. Instead of wasting the energy in the brakes. Brake maintenance and cost for garbage trucks are likely 10X or more similar size trucks.
It’s very noticeable in Toronto now with the much quieter and cleaner hybrid and electric buses that avoid the big cloud of diesel smoke and noisy roar of the engine when they start to move followed by the squeal of brakes.
With hybrids the small, relatively quiet engine runs at a constant speed, only a fast idle all the time to charge the battery.
With electric or hybrids they can run the a/c or heating from the batttery with the engine off during driver breaks as well.
It’s too bad Muskoka is stuck in the past with old fashioned, noisy, dirty, expensive to operate vehicles with humans still doing work that is easily done by machines in many towns.
John Whitty
“Our intent is not to punish people by denying them having their garbage collected,”…well that is exactly what’s going to happen! So the garbage man now is in charge of making a decision as to whether he’ll pick up the garbage or not at every single stop on his route hundreds of times a day…what could possibly go wrong?
Whatever happened to elected representatives enacting the will of the people? Virtually zero people are in favor of this, it’s a ridiculous idea and is going to cause all manner of problems.
So an opaque bag within another bag. A double expense for taxpayers. The garbage police and anyone else passing by can see your garbage and sort through it, making a mess. Or monitor and report on your habits.
The new green compost bins are not raccoon resistant . Toronto replaced all of theirs as they had the same basic design as the new Muskoka ones with the easy to release racoon friendly latch. Muskoka will be replacing ours in the near future as the food scraps will be all over the roads and sidewalks. Don’t these bureaucrats consult with each other, read the papers to see issues in other cities?
Sounds like a communist party surveillance society setting up in Muskoka.
It makes almost no difference to us because “The initial approach for the District will be to allow two small opaque privacy bags (similar size to plastic grocery bags)”
We usually only have one opaque bag of garbage a similar size to a plastic grocery bag.
The rest goes into recycling.
Very rarely do we ever have a full size bag of garbage.
The ‘last stop’ for Gravenhurst Mayor Heidi Lorenz will be at the next election. Power has gone to her head as I have witnessed her at Council and District meetings. What a shame. Authoritarian minded persons are better perhaps in some other occupations. Heidi Lorenz seems unconcerned that her pro development policies mean even more garbage and environmental destruction in Muskoka while making us taxpayers suffer.
I suggest a boycott to the clear bags and ‘opaque bags’ garbage police nonsense. If our garbage is not picked up we can deposit this at the front yards of our politicians.
Maybe all garbage and recycling should be picked up in one truck then taken to a sorting facility. That way there should be 100% recycling diverted from landfill. I think people would work in a sorting facility if workers got decent wages and benefits. I also think the district should be burning wood and paper in a co-generator. Using fossil fuels to grind wood into mulch/topsoil makes no sense to me, plus the topsoil is poor quality and full of plastic.
So many other things need addressing than are garbage how about our roads and potholes, sidewalks,and so many other things.