To improve waste diversion in Barrie, the decision was made to change from a single bag of garbage picked up weekly to two bags of garbage every two weeks. While The City of Barrie‘s diversion rates have increased from recent years, they are still only at 45.39% which places us at #37 in Ontario. The City of Guelph takes the top spot at %67.2.

These changes are set to begin January 12th, 2015. The current pick up schedule and unlimited amount for recycling and organics pick up will remain the same. Starting April 7th, residents will be able to put empty aerosols, empty paint cans and thin plastic bags in their blue boxes. The savings to taxpayers yearly with this new tactic is approximately $400,000.

These changes will prolong the life of out land fill facility to 2035, which is a far cry from the 2017 closing date that was estimated in 2008. Between compacting the land fill and these diversion measures, the life span of our landfill has been increased almost 15 years.

The cost associated with closing the landfill would be $6.5 million initially with another $600,000 to maintain it annually. Never mind the cost that opening another landfill or shipping our waste elsewhere would incur.

While the changes may take some getting used to, a local landfill is a privilege that many municipalities do not receive. We must prolong this site as long as possible.