The comments came flying in after our story last week that the City of Prince George is looking at bi-weekly garbage pickup.
“Unbelievable, less service for more money. Most garbage cans are full after 1 week, imagine 2 weeks! We have enough issues with bears, let’s just add to it!” thundered one person.
“They have done this in Kamloops and it is the stupidest thing that they have done down here since I moved here,” added another.
“This is being done in Kamloops and works really well,” replied one reader. “Because of the compost program, rarely is there a garbage can overflowing. PG needs to adopt this asap.”
“I’m sure we could all hear the calm clear voice of reason on this issue were it not for the cawing of the crows and implement the new system with the uncharacteristic speed it deserves,” another reader added.
That last comment actually appeared in The Citizen as a letter to the editor 20 years ago, during the city’s last garbage controversy, when local government decided to spend millions of dollars to buy new garbage trucks with hydraulic arms to scoop up the special cans everyone would have to switch to.
Oh, the outcry in 2003 about the horrendous cost and the poor grannies who would need to be as strong as Hulk Hogan to haul those cans to the road through the snow.
It worked out pretty well in the end, of course.
And likely so will switching to bi-weekly garbage pickup, which is increasingly the standard across B.C. and Canada.
Of course, there are details to work out, from recycling to bears.
The residents in other cities bring two cans to the road every two weeks – a black can full of trash and a blue can full of unsorted glass, plastic, cardboard and paper for recycling. That might work here.
It’s probably unrealistic to expect zero bear deaths in Prince George but the city is the worst municipality in B.C. for having to put down bears.
But we can all do better, from disposing of fallen fruit in the fall to improving the storing and securing of garbage cans, regardless of whether pick up is weekly or bi-weekly.
Other Canadian cities have made the switch because of the short-term and long-term savings.
The city should finish updating its Solid Waste Management Plan to do the same.
Neil Godbout is The Citizen’s editor.
