Now that you're working from home all day and slogging all night over long-overdue home maintenance projects, are you generating more garbage?
Is it more than fits in your green GFL Environmental roll-out cart?
Do you think the city should give you a break and allow you to leave more trash at the curb, at least while the current coronavirus emergency lasts?
The issue arose at this week's City Council meeting.
"Because everyone's home so much more, the garbage is accumulating much more quickly than it does when you're at work for a a third of the day," said Ward 3 Coun. Matthew Shoemaker.
Describing the Sault's trash limit as "a bit of an irritant" and a "minor issue," Shoemaker said: "I've heard from folks wondering if it's possible to double the waste capacity that can be disposed of on a weekly basis at curbside."
"For doubling curbside waste limits, that's difficult for our current mode of collecting that waste," responded Malcolm White, the city's chief administrative officer.
"We're certainly cognizant that more waste is being produced but we also have gone to a bin system which holds more than just the two bags or two containers that we had before," White said.
Last July, Sault Ste. Marie switched its residential trash collection to green roll-out bins collected by a specially designed truck equipped with an articulating arm that empties the carts and returns them to the curbside.
Before that, the limit per household was two garbage bags.
"Right now, our green bins actually do hold more than a two-bag limit. You can fill them completely to the top," said Larry Girardi, deputy CAO of public works and engineering.
"We run an automated program. And the automated program is very useful during these times, especially with COVID, because of the health and safety concerns of actually handling bags of people who may have had contact with COVID-19."
"There are other municipalities right now who are having issues and work stoppages because their employees do not want to be able to pick up that garbage. It's my opinion, but I would prefer that we just stick to the green bins and not increase it," Girardi said.
Coun. Shoemaker then asked how much trash could be placed in one of the green carts.
The city's website imposes a maximum weight of 200 pounds (103 kilograms), including both the cart and its contents.
But that didn't seem of much concern to Girardi.
"As long as the lid closes, is it going to be picked up?" Shoemaker asked him.
"Yes. As long as the lid closes, it will be picked up," Girardi said.
Mayor Christian Provenzano then interjected with a question: "Larry, have your teams been refusing any garbage over the last couple of weeks?"
"We have not refused any garbage so far as I'm aware," Girardi replied.
