Yellow Bag Program - Program History
History
Since the City-owned Keele Valley landfill site closed on December 31, 2002, all the City's garbage is trucked to a private landfill in Michigan. Closing Toronto's landfill site increased disposal costs by more than 300 per cent. Additionally, the City is vulnerable to service interruption if, for any reason the truck traffic to the landfill is interrupted.
Most importantly, the City has an obligation to send as little of its waste to other cities and towns as possible. This can be accomplished by diverting as much recyclable material and organics from the garbage as possible. Businesses can minimize garbage collection costs by diverting recyclable materials and/or organics from the garbage stream.
There is a wide disparity in the demand for the City's services. Some businesses previously cost the City up to $100,000 / year due to the amount of waste they generate, while others cost the City a few hundred dollars per year. Also, with the amalgamation of the six former municipalities that provided different services according to different criteria, the access to City service varied greatly across the City. The program was designed to harmonize the commercial waste services and make them fair.
On March 7, 2002, City Council approved The Yellow Bag Program. The City developed this policy incorporating feedback from current customers and Business Improvement Areas (BIAs) – received through public meetings, discussion groups and more than 1,500 completed surveys – about service areas, collection frequency and service fees. Based on public input, the City is offering collection of both recyclable materials and organics at no charge at a base frequency. This provides the opportunity to significantly reduce garbage collection fees while increasing diversion.