FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 7, 2023
Eastern Regional Service Board’s Clear Bag Policy Starts on January 1, 2024
The Eastern Regional Service Board (the Board) will officially transition to clear bags for all household garbage collected by ERSB contractors after New Year’s Day. Starting January 1, 2024, ERSB customers will place their regular household garbage out for collection every week in clear, standard-sized plastic garbage bags. The Board announced the change in June 2023 to give our valued customers time to adjust and would like to thank everyone who has already switched to clear bags over the past six months.
In the home, using clear bags for regular household garbage provides a visual reminder of what we are discarding. This encourages people to be mindful of their waste generation, consumption habits, and potentially, inspire them to recycle more and reduce wastage. Using clear bags will make sorting garbage and recycling more efficient. Clear bags also help ensure that household hazardous waste such as batteries are diverted from going to the landfill. Clear bags protect collectors by allowing them quickly to identify the contents of a bag, minimizing the risk of coming into contact with sharp objects and other unsafe contents.
Municipalities across Canada using clear bags have reported an increase in how many recyclables are diverted from the garbage once clear bags were introduced. Clear bags were introduced in Central Newfoundland in 2015, Western Newfoundland and Mount Pearl in 2017, and St. John’s in 2022.
Each household may use one privacy bag every week. As always, there is no limit on the number of blue bags customers can place curbside on any scheduled recycling day.
Beginning on January 1, 2024, customers will place their discards curbside in this matter:
• Clear bags (standard-sized, colourless, see-through) for all weekly household garbage.
• Opaque (non-see-through) garbage bag of any colour for weekly privacy garbage.
• Blue bags (unlimited number) for recycling materials only on scheduled recycling days.
Quotes
“The Board is proud to announce this clear bag mandate. Recycling rates in our region are very low and we must do better. The Board is encouraged that more people are doing their part to properly sort their discards and are making the connection between our warming climate and the unsustainable status quo. What we need is for everyone to do their part. Clear bags help improve waste management systems and gets everyone involved in protecting the environment.”
Steve Tessier, Chair, Eastern Regional Service Board
“On behalf of our ERSB staff and collectors, thank you to the communities that partner with us, and thank you to all our customers who started using clear bags in the months leading up to this official launch. We look forward to continuing working with you all, helping keep our communities clean and healthy and protecting the environment. Thank you to our staff and collectors for working hard every day to improve the quality of the services the ERSB provides.”
Lynn Tucker, CAO, Eastern Regional Service Board
2/
“From a strategy and policy perspective, and importantly, from an environmental stewardship perspective, shifting to clear bags is a necessary move and an integral part of the Eastern Regional Service Board’s mandate to modernize waste management in all corners of the Eastern region. Everything we can do as a Board, communities and individuals working together to better manage our waste generation and increase recycling, is a win for the environment and for society.”
Gerard Tilley, Chair, ERSB Strategy and Policy Committee
Learn more:
https://easternregionalservice...
-30-
Media contact:
Will Hilliard
Communications Coordinator
709-579-7960
whilliard@ersbnl.ca