NOTE: Jimmy's idea "Replace City Garbage bins with a greener one!" has been merged with this one.

"Replace existing single selection garbage bins with ones that separate paper, plastic, organics or at the very least units similar to the ones at the rise but at a smaller scale!"

Hey Helen, Municipalities are THE authority providing waste removal throughout the province ... this is why the programs differ literally from one side of the Street (Boundary) to another. The City of Vancouver is in the driver seat when it decides to provide differing degrees of support and service to commercial (none), residential (single family residential the most versus multi units at a lesser degree), and public (so minimal, it’s a travesty) realms. There ought to be no difference between a park and a home, one family or multi, a residential stream and a commercial stream - blue box, green waste and compost for all can be our goal and is within the City’s regime to support. It all comes down to whom the containers are provided and thus picked up from. What the Province can do is provide legislation and regulation that influences reduction, reuse, and recycling through deposit fees. And in the end, consumer behavioral change can have the biggest impact at the selection stage: select products with little or no packaging AND in the event of packaging, select first those products that are from post-consumer waste, are reusable, and are biodegradable. If we simply expand what we can throw out, consumers may well encourage continued and increased “bad” packaging.

I strongly support this idea. Also have the recycling and garbage bins well labeled so people don't confuse the two.

Every garbage can should also have a recycle bin for plastics, one for paper, and also a compost. All should be well labelled. This is happening in other cities and is essential to reduce waste

NOTE: Caroline Farquhar's idea "City and translink should partner to present recycling (paper, metal, glass, plastic) at major stops" has been merged with this one.

"People waiting for buses create litter. Especially at major intersections where two or several different transit lines cross. At least the main street intersections (King Ed & Fraser, Main, Cambie etc.) should have recycling facilities present at EACH bus stop surrounding the intersection. This would hopefully greatly reduce curb-side litter.... It would be extremely helpful if this curbside service was in the same colours and format as the city wide residential service: same colours for same function - creating ease of use and reinforcement of other city recycling programs...."

NOTE: Daian Fong Ro'Ronaldoo's idea "We should provide a recycling bin next to every garbage bin." has been merged with this one.

"I've noticed there are a lot of garbage bins and people get REALLY lazy to recycle. I usually put it in my bag & take it home, even banana peels for COMPOSTING. If we do so we'd be able to recycle all those coffee cups, napkins, newspapers, the gum cardboards, straw wrappers & wat not!!!"

NOTE: David Hoff's idea "Here is an amazing & radical idea - how about placing recycling containers in Vancouver Parks!!" has been merged with this one.

"Its surprising that this wasnt done years ago. I usually dont bring waste to our parks, but if I do toss something in the garbage, I am shocked to see the bin full of recyclable items - paper & plastic & glass. We can do better."

NOTE: pip's idea "More public recycle bins" has been merged with this one.

Hi again. Janna and Nick very sensibly call for a recycling system that is harmonized across the city - so we all know what to recycle and where. But the City is not in a position to provide this harmonization: we are one city among many in the province. The better place to point the finger is provincial regulation. We need to require producers who sell products in BC to provide a convenient, easy-to-understand, easy-to-participate-in recycling program for their stuff anywhere it is sold. It should be instantly recognizable and handy on streets throughout the province -- just like gas stations are! If you think about it, recycling is confusing (and confused) because we rely on our individual cities to set up programs -- so if you move from Vancouver to Surrey or Richmond it's a whole different system. This makes no sense, does it?

Of course I support this idea! I hope the moderators note it is part and parcel of the idea submitted earlier to: Synchronize: Use the same Blue Bin and the same collection and separation waste management system for business, residential, recreational, streets, and educational public facilities. It’s irrational that we can collect recycling at the residential level but not use the same equipment and staff to collect at our Parks, Civic Centers, Schools, and on commercial streets. Currently, if schools want to recycle the PAC pays for it!! And the Parks! For goodness sakes, the Provincial Parks have been collecting recyclable materials in separate bins for a decade, how can it be that our Parks board and Metro Vancouver Parks can lag THAT far behind? We require one public-wide system, for every public and residential private facility. Aside from the cost advantage - once fleet of collection vehicles and trained staff - a higher participation and reclamation program means more revenue from the collection and resale of the raw materials. Having one standard container also contributes to the publics acceptance and understanding of the program. With the wide range of container variants in the City, there remains a great deal of confusion among users as to what can go where. It is very common to see recyclable non-reuseable plastic cups, for instance, in the City’s paltry returnable container trays affixed to the litter receptacles. This happenstance points to the fact that people do NOT want to put the recyclables into the litter containers but have limited choice of alternatives.

I definitely agree! Over and over I finish my cup of coffee or any other fast food and think, this plastic could be recycled in a blue bin, or this paper cup could be put in the paper recycling. A lot more people are doing this at home but most people don't think like this when there out and about. Saying that, there's no reason that we shouldn't strive for better recycling on the streets too. Education and better recycling options close to garbage bins in busy areas would definitely serve well to reducing our waste.

Be sure that the cost of maintaining the recycle bins is paid by the producers of the materials placed there... a hard thing to do, but otherwise it's welfare for the wasters. It is costly to sort through all the miscellaneous stuff people will put there thinking it's "recyclable". Our street bins with the little tray for refundable containers are a good design because they make the containers available for kids and others to take them are cash them in.

Vancouver's sleek metal litter bins were adapted (after public input) to offer a tray for recyclable beverage containers. This was a great start - it's been noted by blogging visitors from out of town! Now we need to upgrade the signage so that visitors from Washington and Ontario will know that beverage containers are worth money here! We were the first jurisdiction in NA to require beverage producers to take back containers and pay us to turn them in for recycling!

More garbage would end up in the recycle bins than in the garbage bin. This is Vancouver, garbage everywhere, dog **** everywhere, cigarette butts everywhere and homeless people everywhere..

A Prime example was the sea of garbage and litter after the Celebration of Pollution.

There are not enough options for recycling as you walk down your favorite high street or park (or beach, waterfront, etc)

Add extra recycle bins next to the usual trash bin for paper, glass, cans etc so you can throw that soda pop in the right place.

One idea that i have is for the newspapers on the street, i also take the bus and its just full of newspapers that people leave on the seats.

The current public garbage receptacle does provide a recycling rack intended for beverage containers with deposit.

I think the intention is good but the challenge with recycling papers in public areas is contamination. It does not take much to contaminate papers when people dispose their drink cups into the wrong bin. Once contaminated, it is much more difficult for the processor to accept the papers for recycling. There is also the cost factor of purchasing new bins and hiring more City staff to collect these recyclables.

I think the real issue here is that the companies that hand out these newspapers should also have the responsibility of recycling the newspapers, much like the take back program for items such as beverage bottles or electronics.

this gets my vote. It seems so strange that all the garbage recepticles on City sidewalks don't have a recycling option as well. The number of daily/free newspapers that get thrown into the garbage is rediculous - people should have a recylcing options.

Agree - it's time to step up our waste reduction efforts in our parks and on our streets (in addition to in people's homes. Partly for the sake of waste reduction but also to send the message to people that this is important and worth the effort.

@Greenest City Planning Team, The following linked image is a good example. I would use your imagination as it currently doesn't have a organics place in the form but it give you a good idea of what I am thinking of and it does have the same premise as the recepticals at the Rise. Oh and oviously the slots would have to be placed on the side to prevent water going in as we do live in Vancouver.

Link: http://www.wybone.co.uk/download/pictures/Torpedo/trans1.jpg