www.insideHALTON.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Friday, October 5, 2012 · 8 The Regional Municipality of Halton Access Halton at: www.halton.ca Dial 311 Bag tags free at first Continued from page 1 NOTICE OF ROAD CLOSURE Allan Street between MacDonald Road and Randall Street for Wastewater Main Installation Town of Oakville CORNW ALL RD MACDONALD RD HOSPITAL This road closure will be in effect from October 1, 2012 to December 14, 2012. Access for residents will be maintained at all times with some occasional lane restrictions. Hospital access will be available via MacDonald Road. REYNOLDS (Local Access Only) Detour Route Road Closure 16 M RANDALL ST LAKESHORE RD Halton Waste Management Calendar Halton Region is looking for the next generation of artists to provide artwork for the covers of our 2013 Waste Management Guide & Collection Calendar! Students from kindergarten to grade 8, who live or attend school in Burlington, Halton Hills, Milton, Oakville, can enter. Previous contest winners are ineligible to enter. The artwork theme is Recycle and Compost MORE to Make LESS Garbage. Artwork must feature people (e.g. family or friends) a Blue Box and GreenCart, and should showcase a positive environment. Be as creative, expressive, bold and colourful as you'd like. You can use chalk, charcoal, collage, crayon, marker, paint, and pencil. For artwork dimensions, contest guidelines and the downloadable Entry Form, visit www.halton.ca/artcontest. Contest closes Friday, October 12 at 4:30 p.m. The winning artwork, one per local municipality, ity, will appear on the covers of tion Calendar distributed to the 2013 Waste Management Guide & Collection single-family houses. Winners will receive a prize package and have their picture sent to local newspapers. The winning artists will be announced in January 2013. Stay Connected! @HaltonRecycles HaltonRecycles HaltonRecycles.ca HaltonRecycles 051012 Please contact us, as soon as possible, if you have any accessibility needs at Halton Region events or meetings. ALLAN ST DOUGLAS AVE ILE C REEK Contract Number: S-2821-12 Project Manager: Mark Bajor, C.E.T. 905-825-6000 x 7617 ponent of the program. Bag tags will likely be distributed at the Halton Region Administration Centre, Halton Waste Management Site, waste management truckload events, community centres, public libraries and online through the Region website. After the phase-in period, households will need to buy bag tags for each garbage bag that exceeds the three-bag limit on collection day. Starting Sept. 9, 2013, tags will cost $2. For those in townhouses with common collection areas, a limit of three bags per unit will also apply, however townhouse residents won't be able to use the bag tags. Other exemptions include complimentary diaper/medical condition tags provided to approved applicants and a grace period of two weeks following the December holiday. At last week's committee meeting, Rob Rivers, Halton's director of waste management said the new garbage bag limit and bag tag program is key to meeting Halton's goal of diverting 65 per cent of waste from its landfills as outlined in its 20122016 Solid Waste Management Strategy. It would add four years to the Region's landfill, expanding its life to 2044, he said. Prior to April 2009, the Region was diverting 42 per cent of waste with the landfill expected to reach capacity by 2023. Rivers said thanks to residents' participation in the Blue Box and GreenCart programs, the Region has been able to extend the landfill's lifespan even more. "About 85 per cent of homes place three bags or less of garbage out for collection every other week," he added. "Ninety-eight per cent place a blue box out for collection every week and 70 per cent place a GreenCart out for collection, although that number has been decreasing since the initial launch." When stacked up against other regions like York, Ottawa, Durham and Peel, Halton is leading the diversion of waste with 57 per cent, followed by Durham and Peel at 52 per cent (Durham has a bi-weekly limit of three bags whereas Peel has weekly limit of two). That percentage could be higher if the Region reduces its bag limit to be more inline with others. Staff also recommended expanding the blue box program to include mixed plastics like clear clamshells and yogurt and pudding cups, empty steel paint cans and cardboard spiral cans. The new 22-gallon blue box will accommodate additional volume. The question of whether illegal dumping would increase was also raised, but Rivers replied staff is working with the legal department to enhance the waste collection bylaw to possibly have enforcement on the street. "There's a small amount of illegal dumping, but over time it doesn't become a factor," he said. Council heard the savings by extending the life of the landfill from 2040 to 2044 is about $15 million. The cost to replace the landfill and build a new one would be more than $750 million. ST