Delta might end up being the final holdout, but something tells me weekly garbage collection in these parts will disappear soon enough.
We are one of only five areas of the Lower Mainland where garbage is still picked up on a weekly basis, so that alone would suggest the days are numbered for our current schedule. Throw in the fact all Greater Vancouver municipalities are putting greater emphasis on recycling in order to reach regional waste diversion targets and it seems inevitable Delta will follow suit.
Civic politicians have been reluctant to go there, partly because as home to the Vancouver Landfill we're in a more advantageous financial position than other jurisdictions when it comes to garbage, but also due to the pushback such a move would generate.
There are many services our local government provides in return for the property taxes we fork over annually, although our consumption of said services varies depending on our personal situations. If you don't frequent the playing fields or swimming pools, check out books from the library or happen to require emergency services, you might feel you're not getting great bang for your buck.
However, there's one service that every property taxpayer, at least all those in single-family homes, takes advantage of on a weekly basis: garbage collection.
And now you're going to take that away? I can just imagine the phone calls and emails to municipal hall if that were the case: Are you telling me my garbage is going to sit there stinking in the summer sun for two weeks before it gets picked up? Delta's rodent population is going to have a field day. If I miss the collection date for any reason it will be almost a month before my garbage is picked up! To be clear, the good folks over in the engineering department won't be getting those kinds of calls because, unlike most of Greater Vancouver, Delta hasn't altered the schedule, although the issue will be revisited next year.
If the change isn't made at that point, I suspect it's just a matter of time before it happens. Our behaviour when it comes to garbage is evolving, but not necessarily at the rate necessary to reach diversion targets. Reducing trash collection to every other week, but maintaining recycling and green waste pick up on a weekly basis, just might be the ticket to get us there.
Taxpayers can hold on to the current schedule for a little longer, but there's little doubt it will eventually disappear.
