CTV News Ottawa

Windex
So can we opt out if we want or is it just the rural residents that are allowed to opt out. I am not against composting but if they are going to charge me more money yet I won't be allowed as many garbage bags and as a family of 6 we waste very little food - I don't see how this fee will be of service to me.

Green in Centretown
Can one opt out of this collection fee if one is already composting kitchen scraps in the backyard? In other words, if I don't need the city to pick up a green bin from my house, do I still have to pay?

Secondly, I don't think "nickel and dime" charges are going to be very popular. The green bin collection charge, if it comes to pass, should just be added to the property tax bill. However, there has to be a mechanism to allow people who don't use the service, to get it back somehow.

Caroline
I did not ask for green bin, so why am I been force to pay for one.

Como on people! If we don't get together to stop this none sence of taxation, soon, will be paying over 50% our incomes to different levels of taxations schemes.

Let's start writting back to each of these incompented counsellors and stop this program.

Shawn
Another way to grab money from the taxpayers. Is there anything this city council can do it without adding new costs to the taxpayers.

Mike
Once again we are paying for the incompentency of Ottawa City Council. Never asked to be part of green bin project so dont impelement a fee for something i didnt ask for. Cant wait for municipal elections next year!

Fed-Up Canadian!!!!
NOT INTERESTED!!!!!!!

Joe
Vote these clowns out of office. New few for this. New few for that. When is it going to stop? This council is so expensive.

u8mydog
There had better be an opt-out option. I use my compost and have no use for a green bin.

Mike in Orleans
I agree to the fee only under the following condition, that it is a pay per use system. in other words, only charge those residents that actually put this small useless green bin at the curb. Besides, I have recently sold my house and this truly convince me to move out of Ottawa and the councilors that keeps increasing our taxes.

Helene
The "Green Bin" program is optional according to City Hall Customer Service Representative(Marc).
You can reach them by at (613)-580-2400 or dial 3-1-1 or Email Ottawa.ca.
To quote City Hall...."the min ide is to minimize theamount of garbage into the landfill, so if anyone doing their own composting is already helping in that regard"

A-Mad
I like how they dump the bins on our steps and THEN tell us we are going to get charged for it. Can I give the bin back?

GS
I did not ask for that bin. Furthermore I would like the city to stop coming out with great ideas and hiding the fees. If something is costing us we should choose, vote and not be pressured or forced to do it. Enough is enough. All is going up and our raises certainly do not match.

Sharma
I agree with Caroline. Why is the city going to charge me to compost? I didn’t ask for the green bin. As for paying for the blue & black boxes, I think the councillors are losing sight of the fact that people may stop recycling and dump everything into regular garbage. Will the city then buy scanners to go through every garbage bag on the curb?
To me it comes across as sheer mismanagement. I urge everyone to write to their councillor and complain.

Cliff
How about we start a class action suit against the City for lying to us? Those of us who have been using the green bins for several years have been congratulated for the money we are saving the City by using the bins. Now that the program has been proven to be useful, they want to start charging for it? What gall--but waht can you expect of slimy politicians who can't make the difficult decisions to cut costs properly. "A pox on all their houses"

Greely
This is crazy, my wife and I have been composting for years, so we do not need this green bin and cost is just getting carried away now. They should of informed us of how much this would cost. Again we are paying and nothing to show for.

GJ
I didn't ask for a green bin and I am not willing to pay an extra charge for it.

Keep it up Ottawa - her's another fine mess you gotten me into to !!!

Reener
This is a joke, right? Force us to buy into it, then throw a service charge at us? I agree with Green in Centretown - STOP NICKEL AND DIMING US TO DEATH!! Add-ons for everything nowadays is SO not service oriented and just screw the customer in the end. Roll it all up into one charge. Watch the landfills grow - extra costs for recycling and green bins will have people turning to their regular garbage pick-up.
If the City of Ottawa was a store, I would have stopped shopping here years ago. Unfortunately most cities in Canada are about the same. We are so used to paying premium rates for sub-standard service that we just keep taking it.

O.G.
"NUTS!"

I wouldn't be surprised considering how the City has been operating lately, and given that the City is already unofficially “bankrupt”. To expect additional fees when it comes to snow shoveling this year should it be like the past two years. More Surprises in store for us and the City do not seize to amaze me!

Also, let's not forget that the current wise council rejected the LRT three years ago and the tab. for the so called wise decision was $36 million dollars. Three years later and we still don't have an adequate LRT plan in place and the projected costs for the current plan are so high that we, who else, are going to pay for it.

Councilors first and then Councilors, again, and again etc…get the drift!

Maria
I can compost for free in my backyard.

Bart in Barrhaven, Ottawa
This City council can't seem to do anything right... maybe its time to replace every single one of them a start with a clean slate...

Jay
Cliff
I don't see how the city has been lying in the case.

Gerry
What's wrong with the people at City Hall? Bad enough, zero doesn't mean zero, now they want to tax us for diverting waste from the landfill. Last week it was they were going to tax us for conserving water. What next.

As the Monday night shock jocks would say, C'mon Man!

Chris
So, let me get this right. We are suppose to recycle in order to reduce the amount going in the landfill plus it is the environmental thing to do but if we do, we get charged?

So how about those that don't recycle - like apartment buildings - get charged more for the pickup?

How about I opt out totally, put everything in green bags and get a reduction on my yearly taxes?

I like that the best.

Bruce
Once AGAIN Ottawa is demonstrating the ineptness of the staff at city hall. Charge me once shame on you charge me twice shame on me charge me how many times and still I can not drive down Riverside or Carling without needing a dentist. This is an additional tax by any name and MANY OF US DO NOT want Green Bins nor will we use them!! Wake up Ottawa and provide the services NEEDED and encourage green at home It can be done!!!

Bryan
While I'm all for helping the environment and diverting garbage from the landfills, I'm baffled why this dim witted council wasn't upfront with the taxpayers when they were considering this program. I'm sure there would have been enough feedback then for them to fund this some other way.

We all pay more than enough in taxes to this city already but if they are serious about the recycling and composting programs then they need to pay for it within the existing tax base. There are actually some towns that allow free recycling / compost pickup but then sell tags for the garbage bags - that's a sure way to get people to use the programs.

Barry
It looks like the double-digit 2010 tax increase (when you combine the tax increase plus fees increases) will be even larger than we have received in each of the last number of years. At least those double-digit tax increases were in the teens; however, the way the 2010 budgbet is rolling out, the 2010 double-digit tax increase could easily be 20%

Rob in Barrhaven
Why not a yellow bin or a red bin or maybe a purple bin and all the taxpayers of Ottawa could cash there pay cheques and dump all their money in to ship downtown to the a'holes running this joke of a city. I think its time we demanded an election and turf these losers. Enough is enough already. I for one don't get 10 percent increases.

don
bin
could you please who left that green bin in my driveway to come back and pick it up

Dini
This is too crazy, I've been composting for years now with no green bin, and using it in my garden. Now they want my compost and I have to pay for it too?! enough is enough people! I'd at least like the choice of opting out of this.

Cate in Ottawa
Did we ask for City Council to cancel that contract for all those millions in penalties, the taxpayer is forced to pick up the tab for? It seems that once that snuck through council, these bozos think they can keep on taxing us for every little thing now. How about all of you on our city council turn your pockets outside in and pick up these extra tabs. How about it people of Ottawa? Time to do some of our own tactics-refuse to pay taxes on time or do some real honest to goodness protesting. I've had it with these spendthrifts!

Travis
The City of Ottawa Mayor and Councilors have gone absolutely bonkers.

Can we fire them, run them out of town or something? I mean, come on.

Ottawa is completely mismanaged. I call for a vote - who wants to fire these bozos?

Enough is enough. I can't afford to live in Ottawa anymore.

Argh, this city is frustrating me to the max. Just... argh. %^&^

Helene
Following are suggestions to your respondents comments
in regards to the "Green Bin" program and the City's position on its impementation options .
U8mydog...optional
Joe....vote council out
A-Mad...optional
Fed-Up...optional
Mike...vote council out
Caroline...vote council out
GS...vote council out / optional
Sharma...optional
Cliff...act, call your lawyer
Greely...optional
GJ...optional

Sir Laugh A-Lot
Hmmmm

Glad I'm outside Ottawa.... Remember it was the majority of Ottawa that voted these people into power... aren't these the people that help prolong the OC Transpo Strike, the ones that agreed to a train contract and cancelled (causing a lawsuit...) and then to go back to the almost the same plan... after wasting money on lawyers and the payment to the train company.... now this... If they didn't waste your money they could have paid for this without uping your taxes. Hmmmm... you get what you paid for.... and you were the ones voting these clowns in (and I do mean all of them).

You get what you voted for Ottawa.

Sir Laugh-A-Lot

Mike R.
If the city wants to save money, it may want to stop tearing down streets, sidewalks and bicycle paths that it spent millions rebuilding the year before. Another onslaught going on along Scott/Albert.

Oh... wait... They don't want to save money.

reidjr
Travis
THe thing is most big citys canada wide are like this.

John
Does nobody care? I can't believe the we let the council members get away with this if not our raw sewage dumping into the river, endless money thrown away on the transit system, landsdowne and incompitent Health ministers and their minions now we are paying for the green box. Isn't the composter the city gave us way back suppose to do the same thing?Bad enough i voted for lying O'brean and look where we are. Maybe i'm wrong maybe I am a minority and the tree huggers really can afford to pay for this stuff! I guess election time will tell!

Paolo
This reminds me of the compost bin promotion that was given out a while back. Why haven't they continued on marketing that approach? Same result, reduction of waste in the fills.

Andrew Hartshorn
It's obvious from these comments that the green bin program was not wanted by the citizens. How do we get the incompetent council to STOP SPENDING MY MONEY ON FRIVOLOUS THINGS??? I will not pay a cent towards this stupid idea.

C in the O.
I already compost. Now the city wants to take my compostables away from me AND charge me for it?

When my green bin arrives I am going to drop it off on the front steps of City Hall.

Good riddance.

Jay
John
What concerns me more then anything is some people seem to think just getting rid of larry will fix everything.The probleam is that won't most of city council if not all needs to be replaced.

Sean H in Ottawa
Aren't they going to be selling the compost? Shouldn't this be paying for itself?

Barrhaven Resident
I oppose this idea becaause we already compost our scrapes from our kitchen, which we use in our gardens anyways. So, what's going to happen to the big black compost bins we have in our backyards once we're forced to use these green bins? Isn't it the same idea.. now everything has to be thrown away? Are we not supposed to go green and reuse our materials? Bad idea!

Julie in Kanata
All Wrong! Good idea, wrong marketing strategy.
I thought is...Why does this fell like a punishment for trying to do a good thing.
Eliminating waste from landfills through composting is a good project, however having to pay more, fells like a punishment for trying to be part of a good change.
I just don’t understand! Wouldn’t it make more sense to add fees to households that abuse the waste pickup? On collection morning, I see constantly many houses with above 5 and 6 black garbage bags and no recycle bins… I say add fees to those type of people and leave the people who want pro-active changes that are good for the environment in peace and fee free!