©Photo
by Tom Robertson
Lois Hugging
her Garbage
Today was an exciting day.
I'm a lucky ducky. A friend
of mine, Tom Robertson,
drove in from Montreal with
his van. He took me to
Navan. We visited the Waste
Services Inc. (WSI) for the
first time. The NEW RO was
there, and the guy at the
little hut in the window
said that all the news crews
had been there. He said he
was getting lots of
complaints about leaf and
yard waste. He also said
lots of people had been
coming to deposit their
bags.
I had 12 bags of leaf and
yard waste that had been
clogging my garage. Don't
even think of putting a car
in there. The Godzillas of
yard waste have taken over.
We were told to follow the
compost signs down a dusty
road. It was quite amazing
passing the mountains of
appliances packed high to
the sky, and then there was
the sign "Contaminated
Soil." I wondered what that
meant.
Tom and I unloaded our bags,
and he snapped a photo of
me. (see below) I was quite
happy to get rid of my yard
waste and gave all the bags
a little hug goodbye.
But then I thought about the
82-year-old lady who said
she didn't have a car - what
was she to do about her yard
waste. She didn't want to
bother her neighbors to cart
it away for her. Will one of
the city councilors offer to
pay for a cab so that she
can benefit from the same
service I've received or
will this new system remain
two-tier...for the haves and
have-nots.
Why are we paying taxes for
the honor of transporting
our own yard waste?
And what will I do when my
friend Tom, 6 feet tall,
drives back to Montreal and
can't help me (I'm 4' 11
short and shrinking), cart
my heavy yard waste away in
his big van?
And how about the yard waste
that gets all wet. One of my
bags exploded as I was
lifting it onto the pile. It
was soggy and had given up
the fight. Will the City of
Ottawa pay for a car wash?
The complete pick up service
should be reinstated. The
original pick up dates, I
assume, were there because
that's how often residents
required this service.
Someone isn't thinking
clearly...someone who has
the luxury of taking off
from City Hall before a vote
is taken. Someone who is not
living up to his
responsibilities. Someone
who makes excuses as to why
they couldn't stay for the
vote. I'll bet people who
work in high tech or
medicine can't tell their
boss they need to baby-sit
and can't stay to work late
at night.
It's not too
late to call a mistrial and
re-vote.
—Lois
Siegel
