So let’s talk about trust in Government.
Sometimes you really believe that you are the last person on
the planet that God gave common sense to. Ottawa
city hall is a good example of what I mean. A year or two or ago we embarked on
our green bin adventure. This was Ottawa’s
bid to save our planet and we were sold on the premise that:
A) it
would expand the lifespan of our landfill by a few years
B) it’s
good for the environment
C) it
will save us money.
So our councillors go ahead with a 20yr contract knowing
full well that they could not reach the target tonnage. They also signed that,
whether we meet tonnage or not, the taxpayers will still pay the full tonnage
weight. Brilliant. The first year is a complete failure. They bought expensive
green bins and supplied them to all home owners, even though many actually have
no pickup. The city bought special trucks and doubled the amount of trips to
empty the green bins. They are so desperate to cover up their mistake that they
divert yard waste and park waste to the green bin. Of course it costs ten times
more to do this that the original yard waste program but they cannot be seen to
fail. Even with this extra tonnage they barely make 60% of the requirements. So
the next step is to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars advertising the
program that the majority of Ottawans have no interest in.
Finally realizing that there is no way to reach their goal,
they decide to cut regular garbage pickup in an attempt to force citizens to
the green bin. Their premise is that this will lessen the amount of garbage
produced, thus saving money. Except for one thing: if the city creates a
million pounds of garbage, it produces a million pounds of garbage. No matter
how many bins you divide it by, it’s still a million pounds. Of course they
deny the real problem is the contract, and they try to sell the environmental
benefits. They say this will lead to a decrease in costs even though they have
added multiple truck trips. Unbelievable, isn’t it?
So let’s look at the three reasons for the green bin in the
first place. First is the dump lifespan. The dump accepts 75% commercial waste,
20% or so home waste with a tiny percentage of organic material. Commercial
waste is everything from construction material to new clothing that the stores won’t
return. Now these inorganic materials do not break down so they make up the
bulk of the dump. The organic waste is the only thing that breaks down and
because it does it shrinks in size dramatically. It also heats up and helps
things like wood break down more quickly. It also produces methane that can be
used to heat and power the dump. Organics are not the problem.
Off course all these points are moot because the city has
trucks coming from other cities to dump their garbage! That’s right, their
stated worry is filling the landfill and they continue to ship in garbage.
Ok, the next argument is the environment. Part of the first
issue helps with the second. But the main problem is the cost of hauling. We
now have three fleets of diesel trucks on the road 12 hours a day. We have tens
of thousands of plastic bins and we have a factory breaking the waste down that
would have broken down in the dump.
The final one is money. The answer to this also lies in the
other two issues. Plus, we have the added expense of $7,500,000 a year to Orgaworld.
Here is the final nail in the coffin. We are about to start what we should have
done in the first place: we are now going to burn the garbage with plasma and
produce energy from it. No more dump issues and according to the company,
biologicals wont hurt the process.
So why are we going ahead with this expensive unwanted folly
of green bins? Because no one in the council is going to admit they were wrong.
If they would just come clean and admit they screwed up, we could find a way to
break the contract and start with a clean slate. It’s a matter of trusting us to
accept their apology, and it’s a matter of faith for us to believe in the
system again.
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