{"id":29667,"date":"2021-07-15T23:52:47","date_gmt":"2021-07-16T03:52:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=29667"},"modified":"2021-07-15T23:57:05","modified_gmt":"2021-07-16T03:57:05","slug":"councillors-question-5-price-of-future-garbage-bag-tags","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/councillors-question-5-price-of-future-garbage-bag-tags\/","title":{"rendered":"Councillors question $5 price of future garbage bag tags"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Council decides this week whether a new program to sell garbage bag tags for anyone looking to dispose of more than three bags of trash will kick off January 1, but the price of each tag has been called into question right out of the gate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As The Auroran reported last week, Council is considering a plan to put a bag tag program in place by the start of 2022. If ratified this week, residents can expect to pay $5 per tag for each garbage bag they put on the curb above and beyond the current three bag limit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aurora currently has the largest per-capita waste rate amongst York Region\u2019s Northern Six municipalities, but since the Town launched it\u2019s three-bag-maximum education campaign last year, the total tonnage has seen a steady decline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Implementing a bag tag program is seen as the next step towards bringing down the level of waste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On their first sweep of the proposed bag tag program, however, Councillor Michael Thompson questioned whether the $5 price tag \u2013 the highest among the Northern Six municipalities that have similar programs \u2013 was more for the Town to recover costs or whether it is designed to be a deterrent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMost of the municipalities are costing out their bag tags at $2 or $3,\u201d said Councillor Thompson. \u201cIf we are able to break it down to a per bag price, we must have a total for what the administrative cost is to this program and how many tags we estimate to be able to get out.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Al Downey, Aurora\u2019s Director of Operations, replied that total costs can\u2019t be given right now because the data just isn\u2019t there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe had to come up with a number,\u201d said Mr. Downey. \u201cWhen we brought forward the three-bag limit policy, we didn\u2019t attach a bag tag system. We believe that Aurora has a generous garbage bag system right now. We have the highest number of garbage bags out in York Region. We have the highest per capita garbage of any municipality in the N6. This is one area where we don\u2019t want to be number one in, but we are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to discourage people as much as we possibly can from putting out additional garbage. If we find there is tremendous push-back [to the tag costs] or Council wants us to reconsider, we approve a fees bylaw every year and we can look at reducing that. I will also have better numbers for you because we have never administered a bag tag system. We\u2019re not even sure how we\u2019re going to sell them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Councillor Thompson said he doesn\u2019t want the Town to lose money, he wanted it done \u201cat a reasonable rate.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supporting the $5 price tag was Councillor Harold Kim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere has to be a balance between service and deterrent,\u201d he said. \u201cI suspect, as Mr. Downey has indicated, there is not going to be a huge uptake on this. I think it is only a small fraction of the municipality that will eventually need the extra baggage, but it is nice to have that option.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of greater concern to Councillor Kim was the timing of the program. While the recommendations from staff call for a start date on January 1, he said he wanted it fast-tracked to November.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This suggestion didn\u2019t get off the ground, with Councillor Rachel Gilliland stating she liked the idea of the New Year as a \u201cfresh start.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt will be easy for the residents to identify the beginning of something new,\u201d she said. \u201cSomething implemented on December 1, it is a very busy time with a lot of different holidays and faiths, people running around, and who knows where this pandemic will be. It could be some added stress.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Avoiding any undue stress on residents was a theme of Councillor Gilliland\u2019s concerns which included seeking assurances from staff that there would be some breaks within the program for people who have extra garbage on their curbs if they are moving, or if they have a secondary suite on their property.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis happens now even without a tag system and quite often people will call and say, \u2018We have an extraordinary circumstance and we\u2019re going to be putting out more garbage than we do normally,\u2019 so we make some accommodations for that,\u201d said Mr. Downey. \u201cOne of the benefits of starting January 1 is we can start with our public campaign identifying some of the nuances that are related to that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Replied Councillor Gilliland: \u201cBased on our history, a lot of people are already adhering to the three bags. This is just solidifying it that much more to encourage people to be a little more aware and cognizant and recycle more; just be a little more aware that this is our way of stepping forward and being a little more environmentally conscious as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat education program, I think, will really help with the residents on what they can do to help address that.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Brock Weir<\/strong>
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter<\/em><\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Council decides this week whether a new program to sell garbage bag tags for anyone looking to dispose of more than three bags of trash will kick off January 1, but the price of each tag has been called into question right out of the gate. As The Auroran reported last week, Council is considering […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_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},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-7Iv","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-21 23:34:12","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29667","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=29667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29667\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}