‘Our habits changed’: Georgina taking out the trash with 2-bag limit

Garbage increased by 21% since start of pandemic, Georgina imposes two-bag limit

Yorkregion.com
July 12, 2022

One person’s trash is truly another’s treasure.

Unlike many businesses that took a nosedive during the pandemic, Lance Hamilton, owner of a Just Junk waste removal franchise, watched his business boom.

Along with Georgina, his territory includes Newmarket, Aurora, East Gwillimbury, King Township, Whitchurch-Stouffville, Bradford West Gwillimbury, Simcoe County and Muskoka.

Hamilton saw his business skyrocket during the pandemic as people created home offices, took on home renovation projects and tossed out junk as they put their houses up for sale.

“It was as busy as it could possibly be for the two years when COVID was truly a pandemic,” he said.

“Now, we’re in a situation where we are in the downturn of the pandemic, and we haven’t seen the business slow down at all.”

At a time when many residents worked from home and shopped online, trash was limitless -- temporarily limitless.

Early in the pandemic, as the Civic Centre and public library branches were closed to the public, the town temporarily suspended its garbage bag tag program allowing residents to put a maximum of five garbage bags or containers at the curb for free -- now the limit is two.

That amounted to a 21 per cent increase in trash per capita collected at the curb -- one of the highest increases in the region.

“During the pandemic, our habits changed,” said Mayor Margaret Quirk during a recent council meeting.

Related content
Bag tags are back! What you need to know about Georgina’s garbage bag tag program

'A lot of dead bodies': Displaced Ukrainian family finds peace in Georgina

“People took the time to clean out their basements and closets and purged a lot of items.”

During the pandemic, sorting trash became relaxed and more recyclable items, food waste and textiles ended up in garbage, said Michael Vos, the town’s acting operations and infrastructure director during a recent council meeting.

“We need to get back in line,” he said. “A 21-per-cent increase is pretty significant.”

To curb increasing waste levels, the town reintroduced garbage bag limits.

Now, residents can place two garbage bags, or containers, at the curb on regularly scheduled waste collection days.

Anything beyond the two-bag limit requires a $2 bag tag. Large items, such as mattresses, carpeting, furniture or toilets, require a $12 large item tag.

Both bag tags and large item tags can be purchased at the Civic Centre or at a public library branch.

“The two-bag limit serves as a reminder of (our) role,” said councillor Dave Neeson, a member of the town’s environmental advisory committee.

“It will prompt people to pause and ask themselves if an item can be recycled before tossing it into the trash.

When you have unlimited blue boxes and green bins, there’s no reason for it to be placed in the trash.”

Residents can expect to see waste and recycling pamphlets with their next water and tax bill.

When the pandemic started, York Region, which processes residential garbage and recycling collected curbside by local municipalities, saw an increase in all waste streams across the board, said Lindsay Milne, public works sustainable waste manager at the region.

But Georgina had the highest amount of residential garbage.

According to the region’s 2021 waste management report, Georgina collected 114 kilograms of garbage per capita, followed by 108 kilograms in King Township, 101 kilograms in Whitchurch-Stouffville and 100 kilograms in Vaughan.

In 2021, the region processed on average 90 kilograms per capita across the region -- a 12.5 per cent increase over the 80 kilograms of garbage collected per capita pre-pandemic.

“Items residents would normally bring to school, work or out in the community were largely being used at home and put into our residential waste collection programs,” Milne said.

Additional waste generated during the pandemic added about $2.2 million to the region’s net operating budget in 2021, she added.

As many residents continue to work from home, high levels of waste will be challenging, especially when it comes to meeting the region’s hefty target of 66 kilograms of garbage per capita by 2031.

“I’m not sure we can achieve that in the next couple of years,” Vos said. “But it’s a goal worth working toward.”