Some city councillors in Sudbury, Ont., want alternatives to clear plastic garbage bags for waste diversion

Some councillors in Sudbury, Ont., aren't sold on a proposed plan to have residents and businesses use clear garbage bags instead of dark ones.

The idea is that the clear bags would let city collection workers know if people are properly diverting their waste — and not putting organic materials or recyclable packaging in the garbage, for example.

Councillor Pauline Fortin says that's a step too far.

"We have so much garbage stress with our residents right now and to go to a clear bag, we can't do it," she said.

"I just can't see that happening, but I think there are a lot of other avenues that I keep bringing up that we could look at."

Fortin argues that residents are already frustrated over being limited to two garbage bags every two weeks and now having to pay a $5 entrance fee if they want to drop off their garbage directly at the city dump.

But Councillor Mark Signoretti, who chairs the city's operations committee, says it could cost upwards of $100 million to build a new landfill. It's for that reason that staff are pitching different ideas – including clear plastic bags – to ultimately force people to recycle and to compost, and thereby reduce the amount of garbage that ends up in the landfill.

At an operations committee meeting on Monday, Fortin and fellow councillor Mike Parent put forward a motion directing city staff to provide council with more alternatives for waste diversion, and to look at ways to better enforce rules at the landfill, like preventing non-residents from using it.

Both councillors say the city could divert more waste by allowing apartment buildings, for instance, to use green composting bins. The bins for organic waste are currently only available for single-family homes.

Tony Cecutti, the city's general manager of growth and infrastructure, says adding green and blue bin programs to apartment buildings are long-term goals, but it's also difficult to implement.

"It's much more difficult for an apartment building, especially a multi-story apartment building, to implement separating their waste, separating the garbage chute from the green cart bag, for example," Cecutti said.

Councillor Al Sizer said he sees no reason not to go ahead with the plan for clear garbage bags, while also moving ahead with other waste diversion plans – such as compost and recycling options at businesses and apartment complexes.

"I don't understand why we can't do it simultaneously," he said.

The operations committee, though, voted in favour of the motion for staff to bring more options to the table for council.