Alex lives in a new condo near Square One, Mississauga. He recently learned that even though his building was constructed with three waste chutes (garbage, recycling and organics), the organics shoot goes into the same bin as garbage. When he asked his building manager about this, he was told that the city doesn't offer organics collection to multi-residential buildings like his condo and his only choice is to throw it out.

Across Mississauga, there are people like Alex living in apartment or condo buildings who want their food waste to be processed responsibly but can't because the collection isn’t offered. As a result, 43% of the garbage collected from these buildings is actually organic waste that could have been composted. As new residential towers are built across the city, more and more people face this dilemma and an increasing amount of organic waste is being sent to landfill.

In Mississauga, waste collection is handled by the Waste Management department of the region of Peel. A pilot project for multi-residential collection was started in 2016, but was abandoned a year later. Waste Management says the reasons for this decision are:

• Uptake in the program was low over the year of the program.
• Providing this service was not cost-effective for the taxpayers.
• Ontario has suggested the possibility of future policy which may conflict with any locally made decisions.

These arguments are not strong:

• It took 15 years (between 1994 and 2011) for the number of Canadians participating in some form of organics collection to rise from 23% to 61%. It takes more time than one short year for people to build habits and organics collection systems to become efficient.
• How is it more expensive to send a collection truck to one condo with the waste of 100 people instead of driving to 100 individual houses?
• Mississauga has a proud history of leading the country like when we ran one of Canada's first largescale LED streetlight conversion in 2014. We've been policy leaders before, let's be policy leaders today.

This discussion doesn’t even touch on other important reasons why organics collection should be expanded!

• All taxpaying citizens should have access to the same level of service. Currently this isn’t the case as only single family homes get their organics collected while those in multi residential buildings are denied this service.
• Many of the new condos have organics shoots that allow for effective sorting and streamlined collection. 
• Between 2016 and 2021, high-rises grew by 6%, the only housing category to grow significantly. With more people in these multi-residential dwellings, the amount of organic waste going to landfill will also be increasing and this can be shown by the flatlining waste diversion numbers.
• When composted properly, organics release half as much greenhouse gasses as when they are left to rot by themselves. Organics collection and processing can help us meet the city’s climate targets.

For all these reasons and more, we should work towards increasing the collection of organics. But change isn't happening. Our Mississauga councilors say waste collection is a region of Peel concern. Region of Peel says upcoming provincial rules make it hard to act now.

Enough is enough. 

Our Mississauga representatives, from Mayor Bonnie Crombie to our elected councilors, sit on the Peel council and can drive change. Let’s tell our Mississauga representatives that collecting green bins from everyone is good policy and a priority. Let’s lead the change instead of waiting to be told what to do by the province! You can help us send this message by signing this petition now!

 

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FAQ

 

Q: This issue really bothers me. What more can I do to help drive change?

A: We can't expect our municipal leaders to act if they aren't aware this issue is a priority. You can do more by writing or calling your ward's​ councilor and letting them know this issue is a priority. 

 

Q: I live elsewhere in Peel (Brampton or Caledon), but I also agree with this petition. How can I show support?

A: Organics collection is a Peel region issue. By signing this petition you will be sending a signal to Mississauga representatives that this is a priority issue. An even better way to support this issue is to reach out to your local Brampton councilor or Caledon councilor and tell them that improving access to organics collection is a priority.