Having just moved here from New York, I’m confused at to why I have to buy a blue trash bag just so I can throw it away when I put out my recycling. This blue bag idea must have been thought up by someone who does not really want Halifax to recycle. Can we get reusable recycling buckets instead?
—new to halifax
This article appears in Nov 19-25, 2009.
Those blue plastic recycling boxes work well in other cities but not here for some silly reason. I noticed the same thing when I moved back here and put it down to HRM’s need to support blue bag manufacturers. You CAN buy the boxes at home building supply stores but they are not accepted curbside. I prefer the boxes which don’t have to be purchased on a regular basis, and are another expense I don’t need.
From http://www.thecoast.ca/halifax/halifixes-2…
“Halifax chose plastic recycling bags partly because Clorox, the makers of Glad bags, funded our program in the early ’90s. Clorox no longer sponsors us, but we still use plastic bags because it increases the value of paper recyclables, says Jim Bauld, HRM’s solid waste resources manager. Leaving paper in open bins would expose it to the deteriorating effects of the elements.
Then why not use bins with lids on them? Or put paper in bags and the rest in bins?
HRM doesn’t want to change its program. The city would have to pay almost a million dollars to buy and deliver bins costing about eight dollars apiece to each home, says Bauld. But what about the money 130,000 households already shell out to buy plastic bags?
If HRM won’t buy the bins, couldn’t we save money and buy bins on our own?
Unfortunately, no. The city would have to renegotiate five-year collection contracts, change its advertising campaign and redesign collection trucks.”
Thanks for the info blue knows. I guess I wasn’t far off with my theory about supporting bag manufacturers. I resent having to line their pockets just to recycle.
But, you do not have to use bluebags exclusively. You are allowed to re-use groceries bags for this purpose.
That can’t be true, HKM. Anything that isn’t in a blue bag would just get picked up with the regular waste.
I’ve been using Sobey’s bags for newspaper for 5 years, and it goes with the recyclables. Lots of people do that.
I have bottles and cans in one sobey’s bag, papers in another, and everything else in another or two. I’ve been doing this since the beginning to re-use plastic rather than buying new. I put it out about 5 feet away from my garbage, and the recyclers take it every time.
Because they don’t want you to reuse those evil plastic grocery bags. Instead they want you to buy a blue plastic bag. Go figure.
the issue here is if your so concerned with the bags, buy a box and take the recyclables to the recycle center yourself, avoiding the hassle of getting bags, if everyone did this we wouldn’t need tax money to be spent on pick-up and could use the money for better roads or to help our children with school programs….
Hey uh, roams, not everyone in this city has a vehicle and considering the amount of recyclables that I produce, I would need to go to the BLIP every day with that sort of plan.
In some asian countries, garbage/recycling day is everyday. You bring your recycleables down however you please, and then you sort it all on the spot at the curbside. Almost everything is recycled.
A smart retailer would be putting their logo on see-through blue plastic bags……like the NSLC did…..but then stopped…..fucking idiots! I still believe that blue bag design was a total mistake on their part…..totally unintentional…..they didn’t even know the cutting edge brilliancy in their blue bags…..that makes them ever bigger fucking idiots!
I think they chose the blue so you could see through them to know whether there was actual recyclables in there or whether it needed sorting….
Go back to NY