Only a minor offense

I have a confession to make. I am an accomplice in stealing from the City of Ottawa. That's right folks, Larry O'Brien may be plotting to come after me. Honestly though, I would openly admit to my involvement in the theft and maybe even blame Larry for pushing me to it. I'll even admit to it right now. We have taken an unclaimed City of Ottawa kitchen compost bin. See, it's not so horrible.

I'm happy to say that Ottawa has finally changed their garbage program to incorporate composting. The downside of all this, and the reason we have an unassigned bin, is that they have not yet implemented the program in apartment buildings larger than six units. While I suppose it takes time to completely change a garbage program in a large city, there is a huge fraction of the population of Ottawa not yet taking part. In addition to the lack of residential infrastructure, I don't believe I've yet seen composting bins in any public buildings.

Sometimes I believe it's better to do things quickly, like ripping off a band-aid. People will have a hard time getting used to this new system, but not far down the road they will feel as though this is the way it's always been done. By slowly ramping the program up and having resources in only certain venues, people will undoubtedly get the feeling that the rules are not being enforced.

Ottawa is not, by any stretch, the first city to incorporate a composting system. Halifax has had one for as long as I can remember and PEI began composting around 2001. The vast metropolis of Toronto even has a system in place. I can't help but wonder if Ottawa is trying to reinvent the wheel. If so, why not swallow your pride and learn some lessons from some other success stories?

I fear I'm now hammering on without much factual basis for my rant. I really have no idea how the decisions are made downtown and what has prompted this slow introduction to composting. I do know that I'm a concerned citizen and will do my part to be sure the food scraps coming out of my kitchen are composted. I'll even steal a bin to do it.