Trash talk has been prominent in the newspaper of late. The City of North Battleford's changeover from a communal dumpster system for garbage disposal to rollout bins for garbage and recycling has been an ongoing story. Coverage began with the launch of the idea and culminated with the actual rollout last week.
Debate has raged about the changes, including skepticism about how the biweekly pickup schedule will work. Many fear there will be stinky garbage fumes permeating the warm summer evenings, while others are championing the opportunity to become more avid recyclers.
The time for that debate is past. The change is here. It is time to adapt. But a deeper issue behind how garbage should be handled is the attitude of those who refuse to take responsibility for their trash.
These are the folks who have abused the communal bin system, dumping their discarded furniture, electronics, appliances and even barbecues in and beside the bins. They are also the ones who make picking up the remnants of a fast food meal from the street outside the newspaper office a twice or three-time weekly occurrence. And they are the individuals who drive out on the levy road beside Battleford Flats and dump garden and yard refuse, furniture, appliances, bags of garbage and more.
And there is more than a little anecdotal evidence that people from outside of the city, who do not pay taxes or garbage handling fees, have made good use of the communal garbage and recycling system formerly in place. These people are also among those who refuse to take responsibility for their own refuse, piggybacking instead on city taxpayers.
Where does this attitude come from? Why do people believe someone else should relieve them of their garbage? Is out of sight out of mind simply good enough for some?
Some argue fees charged at the North Battleford landfill are at the root of this wanton abuse of the landscape. Maybe they have a point. If people didn't have to shell out fees at the landfill gate, perhaps they would be less likely to just ditch their trash wherever. No doubt administrators would argue that it costs money to operate a landfill and it is prudent to recoup those costs. We also have to take into account that the disposal of trash is a common responsibility. We shouldn't view the landfill as a right, but as a privilege. But, it still has to cost municipal governments to clean up after the delinquents who bypass the dump for other common areas.
Instead of eliminating tipping fees entirely, municipalities should seriously consider regular "amnesty" days, to encourage people to tote that old sofa to the dump rather than jettison it on the street in an industrial area or in what is supposed to be a pristine green space.
That is one possible solution, but as a society we need to shift our attitude. We are all responsible for the waste we create. We need to embrace the concepts of reduce, reuse, recycle, and when we do need to resort to "discard" to do so in a proper manner.
As adults we can set an example. Young people, who are increasingly more environmentally conscious than their elders, can speak up and point out the errors of those elders' ways. And smokers can come to the realization that butts are trash oops, don't get me started on that one.
Let's embrace a new motto - to each his own trash.
