Re: “Taking out the trash” (Feb. 4, page 12)

In response to Taking out the trash, published February, 3, 2010.

Our government’s promises to reduce our city’s waste and make our planet greener are nice. However, they really need to re-evaluate their methods.

Take for instance the city’s new garbage collection program. The only problem with our current program is that we produce more waste than we’d like. However, the new plan has the potential to damage our planet more and is neither easy nor convenient.

The government plans to have all Winnipeg houses equipped with one container that holds the equivalent of three large garbage bags. The idea is that by reducing our space for garbage, we’ll reduce our overall waste.

This plan was doomed to fail from the start. When families have more than three bags of waste, where will the excess trash go if not in the container? Who will clean up that extra trash when our winter winds scatter it around?

Questions haven’t been answered, but containers are already in northwest Winnipeg. And now with a “claw” taking over the job of the garbage collectors, what job will they be given? A driver who operates the “claw” is all that’s needed. Last week the city dispatched workers to clean the streets because winds had blown around garbage not in the containers.

Lastly, Winnipeggers will pay a waste bill, which will come with their monthly water bill; just one more money-making idea.

My idea – everyone should dump their excess garbage on parliament’s steps and see how they like having to clean it up.

– Amanda Feenstra

Published in Volume 64, Number 20 of The Uniter (February 25, 2010)