Recycling Issues

[numberguy]

Yes, garbage collection is done by WM.   But where would the sorting be done?  Certainly not done at collection, rather at the landfill site.   Those workers are indeed Region of Waterloo unionized staff.

I would welcome any news of the Region of Waterloo successfully reducing union roles/replacing them out.   I'm skeptical, but would welcome information.

Why? So some people that have a crappy job make a few more dollars an hour and can afford to live an okay life. I think in the big scheme of things it's not really going to be any massive savings if you can get rid of the few jobs at the landfill that involve sorting recyclables.

Public sector union wages go beyond this topic.   Also, I'm hesitant to say what job is crappy or not, especially if I haven't done it myself.

I'll just go back to my original point that the Region of Waterloo seems very hesitant to take on any union and that the landfill jobs are indeed unionized, making me skeptical that any auto-sorting technology to reduce the number of union jobs at a landfill would be implemented.

I looked it up and it seems the majority of the commercial stream is not recycled in Canada, particularly organics.

This is starting to change, most of the grocery stores in town now have big "organics" bins beside the compactors and wal-mart has green bins aplenty behind the stores for all the food that isn't quite perfect enough to sell anymore. Most small places still just chuck it all in one dumpster, I know we did when I worked in a restaurant about a decade ago. A friend of mine that works at florists just tosses all the trimmings and other organic waste into black garbage bags for collection. I do think getting commercial and big buildings into the organics system would save way more landfill space than any bag tag scheme would.

Does organic waste need to be diverted from landfill sites?   It seems to me that many people object to reduced garbage pickup service because of the smell/messiness of organic waste, making 'free'/more frequent organic waste/green box a method to placate that concern.  Organic waste, is by definition, biodegradable.   It won't cause any long term environmental damage, unlike plastics etc.  

Why does Waste Management have lower commercial landfill rates than the Region of Waterloo?   Is there anyway to achieve those lower rates?   If not, would it be beneficial to (as it does with waste collection) outsource landfilling to WM?