{"id":10051,"date":"2015-03-11T17:51:46","date_gmt":"2015-03-11T21:51:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=10051"},"modified":"2015-03-11T17:51:46","modified_gmt":"2015-03-11T21:51:46","slug":"clear-bags-answer-question-nobody-asked","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/clear-bags-answer-question-nobody-asked\/","title":{"rendered":"Clear Bags “answer question nobody asked”"},"content":{"rendered":"

The more I look at the Clear Bag Program, the more questions I have.
\nAccording to their own reports, York Region can\u2019t process all the recyclables they already collect \u2013 excess gets sent to the landfill.
\nThe Toronto Star reported on November 18 that York Region trucks their Green Bin waste to Ottawa, and London to be processed. In Ottawa electricity is produced from a Landfill to Energy facility. In London, the organics are composted. Neither facility benefits York Region or Aurora.
\nExcept for large bulky items, our black bag garbage is incinerated in a Waste to Energy facility to produce electricity.
\nThat was being done in New York but is now supposed to happen at the new Durham facility \u2013 not York, but at least it\u2019s next door.
\nYork Region was so excited about the Waste to Energy aspect they actually factored in electrical generation as an increase in their diversion rate.
\n(By the way, the Province said \u2018no\u2019 to that bit of creative accounting)
\nSo exactly how is collecting more recyclables and Green Bin organics helpful to the environment in York Region? More items in the landfill? More trucks on the road? Has anyone provided costing on this? Or how about the net environmental impact?
\nThe amount of material picked up at the curb each week is only part of the equation.
\nWhy is Aurora Council so excited about upping the diversion rate?
\nThe way it stands, one ton of organics diverted away from creating electricity at the Durham incinerator is one ton trucked to Ottawa to create electricity there.
\nI fail to see the environmental benefit.
\nWorker safety is purported to be a key reason for implementing clear bags.
\nGFL serves many municipalities, so is safety only an issue in Aurora? Is GFL insisting that other municipalities adopt clear bags?
\nThen we have the argument claiming the need to prevent hazardous waste such as household batteries from being incinerated.
\nA single AA battery is about 1cm X 3cm and easily hidden in any kind of garbage bag, even the small opaque bag we\u2019ll be \u201callowed\u201d to use.
\nAnd why the Orwellian approach?
\nAre Aurorans a town of eco scofflaws that can\u2019t be trusted to recycle?
\nIs \u201cWe\u2019re watching you!\u201d really the way to treat taxpayers?
\nHave you considered education?
\nHow much Green and Blue Bin material is rejected because it contains improper items?
\nHow many residents are up on all the dos and don\u2019ts of recycling?
\nHow much better could we do for the environment if we all knew things like pizza boxes with grease stains don\u2019t go in the Blue Box but that empty paint cans do?
\nHow many Aurorans know the locations where they can correctly dispose of household batteries?
\n Sorry \u2013 I\u2019m all for recycling, but in my view the Clear Bag Program is all about playing environmental politics. Vision Quest Environmental, for planning and implementation fees of $45K, shows Council how they can earn their eco-friendly merit badges.
\nSo, whatever happened to responding to the needs, wants and wishes of the taxpayer?
\nSince when was raising our diversion rate a hot topic? Electoral or otherwise?
\nAs far as I can see – Council used my money to buy a solution and then tried to create a problem to justify their purchase.
\nThe Clear Bag program is the answer to the question that absolutely no one was asking \u2013 least of all Mother Nature.<\/p>\n

Barry Hall
\nAurora<\/strong>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The more I look at the Clear Bag Program, the more questions I have. According to their own reports, York Region can\u2019t process all the recyclables they already collect \u2013 excess gets sent to the landfill. The Toronto Star reported on November 18 that York Region trucks their Green Bin waste to Ottawa, and London […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10051","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-letters-opinion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-2C7","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-26 12:42:11","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10051\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}