Halifax council changes trash-sorting rules

Halifax council is changing the way residents must sort their waste, but it won’t yet insist on clear bags or cut the number of trash bags allowed per week.

Meeting Tuesday, council agreed:

• Box board should be removed from the green carts and recycled instead 
• Leaf and yard waste will go into large paper bags instead of plastic ones
• Grass clippings won't be collected

But two more controversial measures have been sent to a public hearing. Council is considering:

• Requiring clear bags for garbage
• Reducing the weekly limit to four from six bags per house

Linda Mosher, councillor for Armdale-Peninsula West, said those ideas require more thought.

“Many residents say it’s an invasion of their privacy. There are concerns about illegal dumping, scavengers — that’s the feedback I’ve received thus far against the clear bags,” she said.

Councillors deferred the debate on allowing commercial waste to be exported outside HRM, as well as the controversial proposals for the Otter Lake landfill. 

Reg Rankin, the councillor who represents the Otter Lake area, hopes his colleagues will eventually see things his way.  

“Councillors have to be reminded of what the obligations are, because this is dangling fruit in front of them — ‘My God, we may just keep those taxes down because it really doesn’t involve my front yard or back yard.’ What about the moral obligation?” he asked. 

Rankin wants the head of the Otter Lake Community Monitoring Committee to speak at the next council session.