It’s a Wednesday evening, and everything goes as usual. I leave my black garbage bin along the curb right beside its smaller green clone. They sit there in silence like gargoyles in the night, awaiting the arrival of Edmonton’s garbage trucks. In the early rise of dawn, only one is chosen. The green bin. 

The black bin was too full. 

As I creep up to the bins before work, I find an unpleasant sight. Yet another half moon shall pass while I must wait for the waste collectors’ return. I guess my trash will wait patiently in a stinky mountain of bags along the side of my house. Surely the HOA won’t mind.

In 2021, the infamous green-bin waste collection plan swept through Edmonton’s neighbourhoods. The plan introduced separate pickups for food scraps and biodegradables, household garbage, and recycling, all with different schedules.

Neighbourhoods and the community as a whole have critiqued our waste disposal system since the bi-weekly pickup of garbage causes a buildup of bags in garages and the street. The garbage truck follows a strict guideline, and their loyal subjects are expected to follow suit. Waste bins must have one meter of clearance around them, just off of the curb. The lid must close without any overfilling. The black bins are also only picked up bi-weekly, as opposed to the food scraps that are picked up weekly.

I don’t bring my green bin out often. My household doesn’t waste much food. Excess packaging, however, makes it to the black bin by the dozen, quite frequently. Our bin always seems to be overflowing; sometimes the garbage truck misses it due to a nearby car, or because the lid was blown open by the wind. The city of Edmonton offers “big bin events” on “select weekends”, and they have Eco Stations open to the public for garbage drop-offs. The city also released the WasteWise app for the pickup schedules and to educate Edmontonians on sorting their garbage products. But why is it solely our responsibility? 

If we aren’t wasting food, and the garbage consists of excess packaging, shouldn’t the responsibility be equally laid on the manufacturers and distributors of these ridiculous products? Almost every item in a grocery store is clothed in some form of cardboard, plastic, or mesh. It’s not my fault that a box of Honey Bunches of Oats comes with an unnecessary plastic bag. 

Whether it’s my own change or the system’s change, I hope that one day my carbon footprint no longer leaves a trail of polluting shame around my home.

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Graphic by Forrester Toews