Using Garbage to re-distribute wealth

So, Ross Eadie has come up with another stupid idea. Tie the garbage fee to the assessed value of a house, thereby making "the rich" pay more for garbage collection.



I thought this was supposed to be a step towards user fees, vs taxes? Do "the rich" have more garbage, or is it just better quality?

Just because someone has a house valued at more than Ross Edies does not mean the owners are affluent.

It more likely means they bought the house 20 or 30 or more years ago. In fact those same people might now be living on a fixed income and are in less position to pay ever increasing fees. These people are alreafd paying higher property taxes...

Make user fees fair for everyone. If Bob pays $X then Sam should also pay $X.

Precisely, if anything create incentives to reduce the amount going into landfills and a disincentive for those who generate more garbage.



With 5 adults, my garbage bin is half full most weeks, yet, when I go down the back lane at work (inner city), I see overflowing garbage bins. While modest, my house is assessed less than the houses in the inner city, yet I should pay more.



Do people actually listen and believe in Eadie's socialist rhetoric?

Eadie's shown, by this nonsense, to be a certified idiot.


WTF are we paying property taxes toward anyway???

Cut back on $70,000 picnic tables before starting to charge for basic services I say!!

I sure wish these bozos would spend as much time figuring out ways of saving money instead of ways of raising revenue. Commie bastards.

While $50 a year is a reasonable fee, I agree that I already pay for garbage pickup through my taxes. The concept of user fees to to move away from dumping everything on tax revenue, not just take more out of my pocket.

To all residents of Mynarski:

You're a bunch of retards for electing this idiot.

I have no problem in paying $50 more per year.

Why?

because I believe that without user fees, there isn't enough of an incentive to recycle/compost. I'd love to see the city implement a curbside composting program and expand the items that are recycled. We're a family of four, and consistently ave one of the smallest garbage put outs every week. Unfortunately, too many Winnipeggers are driven by $$ in this issue as opposed to social conscience.

The challenge will be to ensure the over-active garbage disposers place their garbage bags in their own bins.

grumpy old man wrote:The challenge will be to ensure the over-active garbage disposers place their garbage bags in their own bins.

The winning comment to this topic.

grumpy old man wrote:The challenge will be to ensure the over-active garbage disposers place their garbage bags in their own bins.

Exactly. I already have neighbours that put their garbage in my bin- without asking my permission, of course.

St Norberter wrote:I have no problem in paying $50 more per year.

Why?

because I believe that without user fees, there isn't enough of an incentive to recycle/compost. I'd love to see the city implement a curbside composting program and expand the items that are recycled. We're a family of four, and consistently ave one of the smallest garbage put outs every week. Unfortunately, too many Winnipeggers are driven by $$ in this issue as opposed to social conscience.

I disagree.

The city should not raise taxes over this.

Cloaking this tax increase under the guise of environmentalism is bullshet. One has nothing to do with the other.

You have a better idea to get people to recycle and compost more?

Interesting letter to the editor in the F.P on this subject:

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/opinion/letters_to_the_editor/sifting-through-garbage-reports-turns-up-gems-132035388.html

St Norberter wrote:You have a better idea to get people to recycle and compost more?

offer better recycling and composting options. heh

I know when the blue bin was first out and you had to sort... usage was super low... then they came up with not having to sort... BOING!!! usage went up. If they just introduced the recycling carts like the garbage carts, I am certain there would be a massive uptake in usage.

St Norberter wrote:You have a better idea to get people to recycle and compost more?

Garbage is a big issue in Europe where they very little space for landfill left. Pretty much ALL packing materials must be recyclable and are picked up frequently without fee (the cost is covered by manufacturers and rolled into the product). There is pick-up of compostable materials for a fee unless you can demonstrate home composting. They have free drop offs for glass, paper, wood, plastics, metals, appliances, electronics, yard waste, and toxic materials - some of this stuff is later sold. The rest is called "residual waste" and there is a hefty charge for this. They have a minimum size bin for each household, sized at about 25 liters per person per MONTH. If a household has more residual waste they can get a bigger bin which will have a higher monthly fee. Using other people's bin is considered what it is - theft.

So it's simple - make recycling options free and convenient, and put a fee proportional to the amount of unrecycled waste that needs to be disposed off.

St Norberter wrote:You have a better idea to get people to recycle and compost more?

It really is a non-issue in our part of the country as far as I'm concerned.

I assure you that we will not run out of space to store our garbage.

As far as compost is concerned, isn't organic material good for a landfill? Does it not contribute to the breakdown of the rest of the material?

So because we have an abundance of space we shouldn't worry about reducing our garbage output? Do you keep all your lights and appliances on because we have an abundance of hydro electricity too?

I like what evil troli is saying. The smaller your garbage impact, the less you pay.

How is garbage going to cost me money at the landfill?

Tie garbage services to property value? That sounds like lunacy to me. I don't think there is a problem with placing a flat, nominal, levy into the annual tax that is the same across the board, but why should my one can of garbage weekly cost me more money because I have a house in RH, than if I had bought a similar crumbling shitbox in St. James?!

When we lived in Richmond/Chilliwack, we were allowed two cans of garbage (baged, certain size can) and unlimited recycling, with bi-monthly yard waste removal in designated yard waste bags. Any excess garbage required you to purchase a tag for $3, which was available at City Hall, all grocery stores, post offices etc. Annually, the city would give 3 free tags, so you could do a clean up in the spring etc. Untagged trash was not picked up. It worked. That said, we were billed a flat rate for garbage removal every three months like you get billed for water in Winnipeg (we didn't pay for water...) YVR has a massive garbage problem, in that there is nowhere to put the junk, and it has started getting railed/trucked over the border to the US to be disposed of. Hence the limitations.

I was mindboggled when we moved here and I asked my neighbour about the garbage limit, and he looked at me like I had just grown horns. "There isn't one!" he chirped.

unfortunately inwinnipeg untagged garbage would start piling up at an alarming rate

I'd take mine to city hall....where all the rest of our garbage hangs out.

I can see where compliance would be a problem. I guess that's why there is no limit in the first place, eh?