It’s a SNOW DAY in Canada’s London and I’m already bored with the K Cups Tower Challenge (maximum is five - consider the gauntlet thrown down), so let’s talk about garbage and recycling. Why is this on the minds of householders here in #LdnOnt? Because many of us will have to dig it out before we put it out. No wheelie bins for us! Carry it to the curb and, if the gods are kind, it will go away.
I didn’t raise children so I could dig these out myself, you know.
I have this whole rant about municipalities and garbage; here’s the potted version. The most basic function of a formally constituted community is to remove waste in the interests of public health. It’s simple. Apply the quality question: if it did not exist, would we have to invent it? And then imagine life without garbage collection, such as in Birmingham, the UK’s second-largest city, where there has been a strike for more than a year. There is no other type of service with a stronger drive for us to come together as a community and act in the public interest on a routine basis.
But what if you live in London, Ontario? Well, the basics are there, such as well-appointed sewers, largely due to the foresight of past generations, but anything that involves an operational cost - y’know, staffing, equipment, running costs et cetera - becomes part of the municipal budget. That’s an annual chest of some billion and a half dubloons ($CAN), of which about two-thirds comes from the taxation of local property owners or locally-applied fees (and the rest from other levels of government).
And if there is one thing that causes a fuss in London every year, it’s the Byzantine City budget process. It’s a fun show, and also not, because it’s indescribably boring. The administration, after lots of work behind the scenes, tables a proposed budget and councillors spend the coldest weeks of the year debating what should be in or out, based on the needs of the people, pitches from departments and the Boards & Commissions*, and the timing of a potential headline. At some point, somebody will just happen - oh my will you look at that! - to find some extra money under a couch cushion and the amount being added to taxes will suddenly decrease in a media-friendly way. And this will cause much jubilating among the subset of property owners most likely to vote but, not coincidentally, least likely to have to take their own garbage to the curb on a snowy day.
We cannot get out. Drums, drums in the deep. The Watcher In The Water took Oin.
I’m cynical, right? Perhaps. But I can spot a narrative, and I can tell when PR is happening to me. Here’s the City’s media release from last October:
As a result, London has achieved a 2026 property tax increase of 3.6%, well below the previously projected figures. Forecasted increases for 2027 have also been reduced to 4.7%, fulfilling the Mayor’s commitment to bring property tax increases below 5% while maintaining and improving core services.
That’s verbatim from the release but not quoting a political figure - it’s just the City’s position. But those “previously projected figures” were always fantasy. <sarcasm> Somebody said they were going to poke me in the eye six times but really it’s three - aren’t they nice? I should be grateful. And they used to poke me a lot - just look at this. I’m so glad there will be less eye-poking in an election year. </sarcasm>
As for collecting your garbage, that costs, right? So, if we want a better waste disposal service - such as wheeled containers that result in garbage and/or recycling leaving our curbsides without being touched by human hand, or indeed any snow - we would need to council to approve it through the budget process. And there hasn’t been political will on that, well, ever. The last time I encountered any, it came from the much-mocked Councillor Dale Henderson, now sadly passed on, who was pretty much laughed out of the council chamber for suggesting weekly curbside collections about 10 years ago. If somebody else is pushing for more taxpayer dollars to go into these services, please tell me so I can agree with them. Otherwise, look at the reporting on the topic: here’s the CBC’s Colin Butler from three years ago talking about repeatedly postponed investment in this area. My heart hurts, and my hands are cold.
No, outsiders, we do not have weekly collections. You can find out more here, and I recommend downloading the app, getting the paper calendar, asking for support from your family and possibly your therapist, sacrificing a chicken at the crossroads at midnight, and prayer. Garbage collection in London is weird and challenging. And it is certainly not on the same day every week. Great googly moogly no!
I know, I know - dig out the vents. Two of those are disused. It’s an old house.
As for wheelie bins, that’s an investment that happens elsewhere, mostly. You can proudly wheel your bins - with handy lids to keep the snow out - to the curbside in Toronto, and all those fancy folks in Guelph can do the same while they’re getting their MFAs. Up in Barrie, they’re wheelie into their bins, automating their cart collection from September last year, and it’s been the same in Kingston since July. In Halton, they introduced wheelie bins THIS MONTH, excitingly. The same system has been in place in little, ickle Simcoe County since 2021. And in London, after years of delays we have rolled out green wheeled bins for organics only and, wrongfooted by the province, we are no longer collecting recycling from businesses, apparently, though I admit this one has me very confused.
You can tell I’d like to see an improved service, right? Instead, I’m glaring at the weather (-12, feels like -22) and considering waking a teenager to force them to dig out the recycling, although I can’t remember which day it goes out. I could suck it up, be resilient, and channel some pioneer spirit to build a shelter for my waste, but I still need to get it to the curb. I’d much prefer to see more investment in the service, and, while I’m ranting, I wish this city (the city as a whole, not the City) would stop treating public spending like a vampire treats the daylight. Bus shelters are needed, you guys, so stop complaining every time we spend a collective buck. I’m sure I’ll return to the issue of taxation later - and I will happily listen to those in the know anytime they want to yell my way - but I won’t run shrieking from a tax increase that has a positive effect on quality of life in London.
That’s my tuppence-worth (two cents, translated for local readers). I will now return to the K Cups Tower Challenge and my own guilt at the environmental woes of a society with a lot of K Cups and (click through for a CTV report) a big ole smelly landfill site. Maybe I’ll make a cup of tea instead.
Thank you to everyone who has signed up here and is apparently reading - the email conversation rate is superb, wow. You guys are awesome. Please interact if you can, even if it’s demanding a correction. I believe the experts say “like and subscribe”.
*Disclosure: I was Board Chair at Eldon House during the most recent multi-year budget process and, following representations to councillors and the mayor, was assured its tiny budget would not be cut. I had a good hearing and it was a successful pitch on behalf of London’s heritage gem.
Garbage schedule - the third rail of municipal politics!