Man vows to fight ‘bag tags’

While town council is expected to pass the new waste management bylaw at its meeting next Tuesday (May 25), with “bag tags” to go into effect May 31, one local resident is determined to see that decision stopped or reversed.
Ken Perry, who spoke against “bag tags” at the public information sessions here earlier this week, said Thursday that he’s not going to keep quiet while “bag tags” remain a possibility here.
“They’re going to vote ‘yes,’ on Tuesday night,” said Perry. “If the majority of the residents in the Town of Fort Frances don’t want this, why are seven people going to put it through?
If we have a true democracy, why are they putting it through?”
“Do you remember Roger Dolyny and his fight with the new high school? I will be the Roger Dolyny on this deal,” Perry vowed.
“They’re going to come to hate me at town hall,” Perry added, noting he’s talked to a local lawyer for legal advice as to whether the town can charge a user fee for what he felt was a “necessary service.”
Perry also said he’s been doing a lot of research in his spare time, and found that while the town has told the public that more than 100 municipalities in Ontario have adopted a “bag tag” system, many others haven’t implemented “bag tags”—or have found alternative ways of limiting what and how much goes to landfills.
Perry noted major centres, like Ottawa, Toronto, Hamilton, and Kingston, do not have “bag tags.”
The Regions of Waterloo, York, and Durham in southern Ontario have no “bag tag” system, either, said Perry, yet Durham has the fourth-largest recycling system in the province.
In Sault Ste. Marie, Perry said that city is introducing a comprehensive recycling program, with bag limits. Before Jan. 1, the city accepted four bags of refuse per week per residence. It then was reduced to three free bags after May 1.
After Jan. 1, 2005, that number will drop to two free bags.
Any number of bags of garbage put out beyond these limits will cost the resident $2 extra per bag.
In Peel County, which includes Brampton, Mississauga, and Caledon, residents get three bags of garbage picked up each week, then pay $1 per bag for any beyond that limit.
In Halton County, there are no “bag tags,” but residents are allowed to put out a limit of six bags a week, at a maximum weight of 50 pounds each.
Richmond Hill allows five free items per weeks (whether bags, garbage cans of refuse, or bundles) at a maximum weight of 40 pounds each. Residents there pay $2 per item after that.
Sudbury also has no “bag tags,” but has a three-bag limit, with a 55-pound limit per item. Niagara Falls, meanwhile, has no “bag tags,” just an annual fee of $115 for garbage pickup.
Perry noted “bag tags” had gotten to the final stage of voting in Winnipeg, but added the public outcry there stopped them from becoming a bylaw at the last minute.
Perry said Kamloops, B.C. tried “bag tags,” too, and then went back on that decision after outcry from citizens.
He also has concerns about the town making money off “bag tags,” as well as the cost for small businesses having to use dumpsters for pickups (as well as the security issues that go along them), among other things.
“I can afford ‘bag tags.’ I can afford the fuel it’s going to cost for me to go out and get them. I’m not fighting this for me,” Perry stressed.
“I voted for them [council] not to act in their own interest,” he added. “I voted for them to represent the people, and I don’t think they’re going to be doing that.”