CELPIP Reading Part 4 Practice Test: Every-Other-Week Garbage Pickup Debate

Ashgrove council must soon decide whether to collect household garbage only every second week, with green-bin organics and blue-box recycling still picked up weekly. Supporters expect more conscientious sorting; critics counter that it shifts the burden onto households while ignoring where most waste originates. The town’s only landfill is projected to reach capacity within fifteen years.

Councillor Anita Desrosiers, chair of the environment committee, is the plan’s staunchest proponent. “Put the bin out less often and you start to see how much of your trash belonged in the green bin all along,” she argues. The roughly $1.4 million saved annually she has pledged toward extending organics collection to apartment buildings, which currently have none. “Nobody’s being asked to throw out less, only to put it in the right place,” she insists.

Dr. Paul Whitford, who studies municipal waste systems, grants that diversion rates typically climb in the first year. Whether they stay there depends on residents understanding why they sort, not merely that they must. Collection schedules, moreover, address only the tail end of the problem: much of a garbage bag is packaging no household chose. Until producers bear that cost, cities are “mopping the floor while the tap is still running.”

For Gloria Mbeki, mother of eighteen-month-old twins, the issue is anything but abstract. She recycles diligently, but diapers can’t go in the green bin. “Two weeks of them in a July heat wave isn’t a lesson in responsibility; it’s an unsanitary hazard,” she protests. She has requested extra pickups for families with infants and residents dependent on medical supplies; Desrosiers has promised that staff will “look at options,” committing to nothing.

Rick Lavoie, who manages three downtown rental buildings, doubts that any of their single garbage rooms could hold twice the volume. Overflowing bins would bring bags in the lane, scavenging raccoons and bylaw fines. Still, he acknowledges the plan’s merit: most of his tenants’ refuse is cardboard and plastic wrap from online orders, and “the shipping companies should be paying for its disposal.” He could support the change once apartments receive the promised composting service.

I moved to Ashgrove from a town that switched to every-other-week garbage pickup years ago, and Councillor Desrosiers is right about one thing: once trash day comes less often, you notice how much of your garbage 6. Choose…came from online orderscame wrapped in packagingattracted hungry raccoonswasn’t really garbage. Still, I’d hold off on the change until the city 7. Choose…grants every family more collectionskeeps its apartment promisehires more crewspenalizes careless renters; otherwise, managers like Mr. Lavoie will be left with overflowing garbage rooms.

I also think Ms. Mbeki’s request is 8. Choose…a reasonable askalready settledunfair to tenantstoo costly to consider. My old town offered free extra pickups to families with babies, and nobody abused it. Finally, Dr. Whitford’s warning that the improvement may 9. Choose…depend on new binscome mainly from apartmentsprove a flash in the pancost the city money matches what I saw back home, which is why council should set aside part of the savings for 10. Choose…building larger garbage rooms downtownlowering residents’ collection feespicking up recycling more oftenexplaining why sorting matters.