Squeeze Play: The city of Toronto last week approved a pay-as-you-throw garbage system that will reward homeowners who manage to stuff all the stuff they generate biweekly into a 75-litre bin. Here is the Toronto Star´s take on the city´s new trash system; here is the Globe and Mail´s.

 

The city claims that one large bag of garbage should fit into the 75-litre bin, and an enterprising pair of reporters with the Toronto Star decided to test that assertion. They stuffed a standard large (67-litre) bag full of trash, tied it shut and squashed it into a 75-litre bin. And they found that with some jimmying they could cram another half bag of trash into the bin.

 

To summarize their findings: Torontonians who can squeeze all their rubbish into one and a half large garbage bags every two weeks won´t have to pay any extra taxes to have their trash collected.

 

So do you think trash compactor sellers in Ontario should be licking their chops over their sales prospects once the new pay-as-you-throw system takes effect next summer?

 

Well, maybe. According to the Toronto Star, homeowners should expect it to take at least five years to recoup their investment on a new compactor. So for the average homeowner, a $600 compactor that lasts eight to ten years (or more) would be money well spent.

 

Pete Fehrenbach is managing editor of Waste News. Past installments of this column are collected in the Inbox archive.

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