New garbage bag regulations come into effect in North Bay on Jan. 1

Garbage collection in North Bay is changing in the New Year in an effort to extend the life of the Merrick Landfill site. (Eric Taschner/CTV News)

North Bay -

Garbage collection in North Bay is changing in the New Year in an effort to extend the life of the Merrick Landfill site.

The number of garbage bags for pickup per household is going down from three bags to two effective Jan. 1.

“The community can get on board and embrace it and be part of the change,” said Clean, Green, Beautiful North Bay spokesperson Hariett Madigan. “We’re talking about the health of the Earth.”

It’s an effort to get the public to recycle more. Each bag or garbage container can't weigh more than 35 pounds and containers can't be larger than 33 gallons.

“North Bay has been one of the last communities in northern Ontario to reduce the amount of waste we put out on a weekly basis,” said city Coun. Chris Mayne.

Bag tags, at $2 each, can be bought at city hall when residents go over the bag limit. Each home is allowed to have four additional bags on the curb as long as they’re properly tagged.

“I expect at some time at the next year, or two or three, there will be further decisions to reduce from two bags to one bag,” said Mayne. “Here in the City of North Bay, we recycle virtually anything you can think of.”

For industrial or commercial properties, the garbage bag limit will drop from 12 bags to 10. Past audits have found up to 40 per cent of waste at the Merrick Landfill could have been recycled.

“There’s about 19-21 years of life in the landfill left,” said Mayne. “When we do have to get to the point of having to add additional cells, it will cost in the tens of millions of dollars.”

Due to lower population density, the city is not required by the province to implement a green bin collection program.