Muskoka residents are failing the test when it comes to waste diversion.
During this week’s District of Muskoka Engineering and Public Works Committee meeting, councillors heard the results of the 2024 curbside waste audit.
“Disappointing. That’s all I can say,” said Coun. Brenda Rhodes, who attended one of the audits in person. “It was mind-blowing. We opened one garbage bag and inside we found that someone had collected all of their organics and put them into an organic bag, and then put that organics bag into the garbage bag.”
According to district staff, more than half of the items put out as garbage technically are not garbage at all. Staff say 43% of waste put out for the landfill should actually be included in the organics collection, 7% is recycling, and 3% is classified as “other.”
Levels of misplaced waste are highest in Muskoka Lakes Township (55 %) and lowest in Huntsville (45%).
On the flip side of the coin, nearly 30% of materials set out in blue boxes should have been set out as garbage or organics.
Muskoka Lakes had a 20% contamination rate for their recycling, ranking them highest for recycling compliance in the district. Residents of Gravenhurst had the highest contamination rate at 46%. Contamination rate for garbage and recycling refers to how much material is in the stream that doesn’t belong. The goal is to get the contamination rate as close to 0% as possible.
Staff also pointed out that of those eligible for green bin collection, only some 40% take part.
Rhodes said Muskoka’s poor diversion rate is one of the reasons she’s in favour of measures like clear garbage bags, which will become mandatory next year.
“It is absolutely imperative that we take these measures because we’re not getting it,” she said.
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There will always be irresponsible people who don’t care enough to put in the effort. For people that do try, the Waste Wizard Muskoka is very helpful. However, there are many products that are not in the Waste Wizard database, making it difficult to determine where some products go. Making the database more comprehensive, and perhaps delivering it to homes in hardcopy, may help with compliance.
I have found that during events (which we run), you cannot assume that folks will use our garbage pails and blue recycling bins properly.
This became clear years ago.
So after each event we literally empty all the bins ( blue and garbage) on the ground to resort. The result is not even 1 full garbage bag. The rest is a combination of recyclable plastic and glass containers ( which is put out for recycling), paper which we use ourselves to start fires with ( cooking, heating and boiling sap), and anything compostable goes in the garden.
Again, the only way to insure proper handling of waste is to hand sort everything before it is put out to the curb.
This ain’t going to happen in most situations.
Also, hopefully most rural folks use compost as valuable fertilizers, hence a lot of them won’t have the green bins, but they are still handling that waste responsibly.
Thanks, Craig and Brent. The information is there. I did not know some of it. Could have been in the article, rather than just the statistics and complaints.
This news was not in the article:
“Nov. 19, 2024 – Muskoka transitions to the Extended Producer Responsibility model and transfers the Blue Box program to CM.
Jan. 1, 2026 – The transition period ends, and CM takes full control of the Blue Box Program in Ontario communities”. For now the “where to put it” stays the same, but the article says stay tuned.
https://www.muskoka.on.ca/en/garbage-and-recycling/blue-box-transition.aspx
Interesting? organic/food waste that is not recycled may be sent to landfills where it rots, causing a huge negative impact on the environment by releasing methane-a harmful greenhouse gas that is 25 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Think of homes in the same area.
How much of Muskoka garbage food actually ends up in a landfill? It seems clear bags or not it will end up someway in our landfill.
Will we ever win???
Lots of ideas and suggestions here. We live in a world where we expect all govt to do more and more for us . We have become over dependent. Recycling is not rocket science. It can and should be done by all of us. Whatever happened in taking personal responsibility? We all need to get with the program. Surely we can be much better than 45 per cent participation.
How to dispose of our garage in a responsible way?
It must not spew toxins into the air!
It must make billions in profit or no one will try.
Big business will never do anything about their packaging. Loss of profit!
The householder and small business is the main problem?
How about thousands of jet aircraft circling the earth 24 hours a day spewing toxins?
Sounds like a dead end to me.
Download the Muskokawaste app to your phone. Clearly tells you where to put everything.
I find the comment “The issue for us are the smart animals” amusing.
When we lived on Brunel Rd. the biggest problem we had was the bear. It came and didn’t want to go away. So I built a good solid shed for the garbage. Six screw hinges and a stout hasp. Smarter than that old bear. But it just proceeded to upset the structure and dismantle the roof. Damn powerful bear. But after a few clean ups, it decided to go elsewhere.
When we moved to S. Lancelot, my shed suffered the same ‘bear’ indignity. But only the once. I found that the worst marauders were the raven and crows. The ravens came to do the heavy lifting and once all the bags had been torn open, the crows proceeded to spread the debris over as large an area as possible. Good coverage seemed to be their priority. More clean ups, but we learn.
And all the while there are the racoons. They seem as much curious as to what’s in the can as to the food value. And they have necessitated a few clean ups, causing me to think of ways to deal with the problem. Thankfully it doesn’t happen often.
But when someone suggests that the Town or District supply a “standard type animal proof container” then I think you got a set. Taxes are high enough as it is without my being asked to subsidize your ‘seasonal’ status. If you have the problem, think of a way to deal with it.
Apparently an animal proof container is what’s needed. So one can come and go as we please. They are available. Buy one. Problem solved.
More pressure needs to be put on manufacturers to use packaging that is easier to separate, identify and recycle appropriately. Manufacturers also need to cut down on the packaging used to cover items, some seem to be trying while others still go overboard with the amount of packaging covering an item. Possibly a new recycling system needs to be re-examined as what we have just doesn’t seem to be working. Only 9 % of plastics are recycled and upwards of 25 per cent of the waste put in recycling bins is also rendered non-recyclable by contamination.
You can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink, so let’s make it easier, more convenient and result drive .We have invented Artificial Intelligence, put men on the moon and created a fat burning pill so surely as intelligent people we can figure out how to dispose of our garage in a responsible way.
Large portion of Muskoka population is seasonal, coming from parts of Ontario that have different collection rules.
That can result in contamination.
I understand our recyclables are trucked south – what really gets recycled? How about co- generation?
Also count organics going into private compost bins – add that to the 40% in green bins.
I have printed lists of recycling / compost materials I had requested and mailed from District. These are strategically placed in my home and extras given to neighbors.
Constant visual reminder!!!
Lets go back to putting them in the mail or making them available at the grocery stores.
I can identify with District’s problem.
At our resort we recycle… BUT… despite telling the guests verbally, putting the guidelines in the resort newsletter, posting it in each cottage and labeling all the containers at our recycle area we still have a lot of misplaced items.
Many reasons.
1- they are on holiday
2- they just don’t care (this applies especially to Americans)
3- for some reason they can’t read and understand simple English
4- They send their 8 year old kid up with the various materials and they are clueless what do do with each item.
5- They do not separate at source, tossing it all together despite separate containers being provided and then they do a lousy job of the sorting.
6 Other jurisdictions don’t follow any of the same guidelines so confusion is rampant regarding what is a “plastic” or a “paper” item for example. I have no idea why this is such a problem.
This fall I made it a project to re-sort some recycled and garbage items just to sort of audit our diversion.
It is a subjective estimate but I think we could divert nearly twice as much as we currently manage.
Unfortunately I draw the line at sifting half full ketchup bottles from diapers to do this so our garbage is still too much.
I have a separate stream for alcohol containers as lord knows there is a very lucrative refund on these returns at the Beer store but continually I find these containers just tossed with the other recycles or even in the garbage. I can only conclude that the purchasers simply don’t care. Perhaps a recycle rebate of a dollar a can instead of 10 cents would make a difference?
I have to admit I am at a loss to explain why people seem so stupid about this. I know these folks are not stupid, heck they drive fancier cars than me and have more money than me and take more holidays than me so they must be smarter than me, but they still can’t seem to tell a beer can from a cookie wrapper from a diaper. If anyone can help with this I’d appreciate the help.
It is sadly much the same with things like electricity and heat. Logic would dictate that you turn off unneeded lights and turn the heat down before you open the windows but this is not what happens. Lights get turned on for breakfast and stay on all day. Outdoor lights are on all day, Electric vehicles get plugged in with no permission to do so. Heat is left at 90 F with the outside at 68F and the windows open so more electricity is used in the summer than on colder days when windows are closed.
It seems impossible for a tourist to remember how they opened a window and reverse the procedure so as to close it. A window pushed weakly to about an inch open position is not “closed” but in their mind it is.
Cars do not need to idle for an hour before starting off, things like this.
Without a mental reset on a global scale we are, I think, doomed.
In our area there are a lot of short term rentals and rarely see Green bins
In reply to Ed gruscyk
I agree with your point and have been trying to get it across all year. They forced us to BUY a bear bin at the cost of $1000 not give it to us. Like yourself if not there on garbage day pick up we have to leave it unlocked and yes poor hungry bears with much struggle can get it open.
Also our lake is narrow and the people on the other side the last I looked do not have bear bins. A bear can swim that width in minutes to the garbage in no bin.
Now way too much bear habitat in the three towns has been cleared leaving the animals stranded and add bear bins. Muskoka is killing the animals and in a sad way forcing all these garbage rules the citizens are helping to kill them. Something is so wrong in Muskoka.
I don’t like their website, but the district does have very clear guidelines on what (and what not) to compost (https://www.muskoka.on.ca/en/garbage-and-recycling/green-bin-organics-collection.aspx) and what (and what not) to recycle (https://www.muskoka.on.ca/en/garbage-and-recycling/two-stream-recycling.aspx). They should probabaly make some nice printouts and distribute them. It is just as important to look at the ‘do not recycle’ and ‘do not compost’ lists on those web pages. It doesn’t take long to learn – just a bit of effort. It amazes me how many I know don’t do it properly.
Obviously more education and reminders needed. Need to know barriers to getting compliance when it seems so high. A realistic target for compliance needed not 100 percent. Judging by reaction to switch to transparent bags, I think there needs to be better understanding of how to promote green bin, recycling and reducing trash. It starts in the store with deciphering recycling symbols and making choices that may be unavailable due to cost etc. There can be confusion about the process at home with no-one to call to get advice about status of an item which seems a trivial thing to try to chase down a district staff person. Pay doppler or cogeco and others to post videos of mayors and district councillors sorting their own real trash and recyclables and organics. ( or show at high attendance events often) Repeated exposures needed to get a simple message across, so this is unsurprising that we are not all getting a more complex message. People should not feel threatened with non-pickup or fines if they are found to bee non-compliant. The success of this kind of program depends on voluntary participation and broad social support. Even my repeated use of the word “compliance” is off-putting which is what the District seem to be chasing.Promotion and participation, instead I think.
The issue for us are the smart animals that quickly attack any type of organic waste collection prior to pick up. Our garbage truck does not seem to have a regular schedule so trash could be sitting for some time prior to pick up,
We are seasonal and rarely here on the day of garbage pick up. If the town provided a standard type animal proof container then perhaps the public would feel less apprehensive about leaving our trash and organics out without the fear of a mess.