In recent months, waste management has been making headlines more and more often in Quebec. The article “The Garbage Police Are Watching You,” published by the Journal de Montréal, highlights a new reality: several municipalities are stepping up the monitoring of household waste to identify offenders.
Bag inspections, increased monitoring of collection bins, and new measures aimed at holding residents accountable are now part of the landscape.
In some cities, recycling bins are even equipped with chips to track volumes and avoid additional costs associated with excess waste.
The goal is clear: to improve waste management and reduce misuse.
But one question remains.
What happens when some people simply try to get around the system?
When Waste Changes Destination
In the field, our teams are witnessing a concerning trend.
As controls around municipal waste collection tighten, some waste appears to simply be diverted elsewhere.
Instead of being placed in municipal waste streams, black bags of household garbage are showing up in places that were never intended to receive them:
• commercial dumpsters
• clothing donation sites
• community collection points
Fondation La Collecte’s donation sites are no exception.
Our teams are seeing an increase in black bags containing household waste being left in or around containers intended for clothing donations.
These bags may contain:
• household waste
• broken items
• contaminated materials
• non-recoverable waste
In other words, materials that would normally be handled through municipal waste collection.
Clothing Collection: A Concrete Environmental Solution
For more than twenty-five years, Fondation La Collecte has helped divert thousands of tonnes of textiles from landfills.
The principle is simple: collect clothing that might otherwise have been thrown away and give it a second life.
Every bag of donated clothing represents:
• textiles diverted from landfill
• a reduction in household waste
• resources recovered rather than discarded
But the impact of this simple act goes far beyond the environmental benefits.
The revenue generated through the recovery of collected clothing also helps support the mentoring programs of Big Brothers Big Sisters of Greater Montreal.
A simple clothing donation therefore contributes to:
• the circular economy
• reducing textile waste
• supporting a social cause
An Environmental Paradox
The current situation reveals a paradox.
On the one hand, municipalities are legitimately seeking to improve waste management and encourage residents to take greater responsibility.
On the other hand, when certain types of waste are redirected to infrastructure that was never designed to handle them, community initiatives often bear the consequences.
Black garbage bags left at donation sites result in:
• additional cleanup operations
• unexpected logistical costs
• contamination of recoverable materials
• deterioration of spaces intended for community giving
These situations remain relatively uncommon, but their increasing frequency poses a real challenge for organizations working to reduce textile waste.
Protecting Solutions That Work
Tackling illegal dumping is necessary.
It protects the environment and helps keep our communities clean.
But it must also come with recognition of the community initiatives that are already helping to reduce waste.
Clothing collection is one of them.
It turns a simple action—donating clothing—into a positive environmental and social impact.
For this model to continue working, donation sites must be used for what they are truly intended to be:
places for solidarity and reuse.
A properly donated bag of clothing can extend the life of textiles, reduce landfill waste, and support a child through a mentoring program.
The fight against waste and community solidarity are not opposing forces.
They should move forward together.
