Biweekly garbage pickup: the pros, cons and how you reacted

It gets a mixed reaction, to say the least the notion of making garbage collection in Hamilton biweekly, down from once a week like it is now.

The suggestion generated a great deal of reaction from readers, and included hereis some of what you had to say about it.

The city is looking at the idea as part a review of its waste management services. In 2020, the city's current waste collection contracts will expire.

So a city-hired consultant will survey people this year about numerous ideas. That includesbiweekly garbage pickup.

• What do you think of biweekly garbage collection? The city wants to know
• Biweekly garbage pickup would save $1M - but is it worth it?

The subject keeps resurfacing in Hamilton. City council has debated it three times since 2007.

The pros

It diverts waste from landfills

Other municipalities, such as Guelph and Barrie, have biweekly garbage collection. If Hamilton has it, the city says, peoplewill use their blue and green bins more.

In 2011, city staff estimated biweekly garbage collection and weekly blue and green bin collection would divert 5.7 per cent more waste from landfill if recycling remains a two-stream system, or 7.6 per cent if recycling becomes single stream. That would bring the amount of residential waste diverted to 60 or 62 per cent, respectively.

It will save money

In April, the city said biweekly garbage collection would save $1 million per year. That's not including money saved from extending the life of local landfills. However, going to a single-stream recycling system would also require investing in recycling infrastructure, the 2011 report says.

The cons

If you miss garbage collection, or they skip over your house, you're stuck with garbage for a month

This was an issue in Ottawa, which switched to biweekly pickup in 2012. Overall, the city recorded 1,580 complaints about missed collections between November 2012 to June 2013, the Ottawa Sun reported. Eventually, complaints decreased.

Diapers and incontinence products are an issue

Ottawa implemented special pickup for these products in 2012. Residents could register in advance for weekly pickup of these items, which people put out at the curb in white bags.

But the bags blended with snow banks, the Ottawa Sun reported, and collectors would skip over them. In 2013, 6,427 homes subscribed to the program, or two per cent of all curbside collections.

It smells

The city cited "more likely to cause odour in the home" as a downside to biweekly pickup. This is especially true since not everyone has a place to store garbage.