An Explanation of the Decade-Long Delay in the Rollout of a Green Bin Program in London Ontario, Analyzed Through the Lens of the Multiple Streams Framework

The Multiple Streams Theory, established by Kingdon in 1984, posits that laws are created when different sets of interests, called the problem, policy, and political streams, align. When that alignment of the three streams does not occur for a particular issue, legislation to address the issue is not created, regardless of the issue’s importance. This paper will use document analysis to explain the example of the City of London’s introduction of curbside collection of organic waste, also known as Green Bin programs. London’s landfill has been predicted to reach capacity in 2024 since before 2016, the province of Ontario has been releasing new laws that make it harder and harder to reach goals without a curbside compost program for a decade, and the City of London has been slowly becoming an outlier as more and more Ontario municipalities gain Green Bin programs. London ran a pilot Green Bin project in 2011 and 2012. Only in 2024, thirteen years after the pilot’s start, did curbside collection of organic waste finally begin. This study asks why there was such a long delay, using the Multiple Streams Framework to explain. The study found the long delay was due to a lack of urgency, which cause the problem stream to not line up with the policy and political streams in motivating change. London’s Green Bin program rollout is an example of a phenomenon explain by the Multiple Streams Framework, wherein important policies are not created until the problem, policy, and political streams do not line up.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Public Administration

Year dc:date.issued

2024

Author dc:creator

• Pasternak, Alana

• Environment
• Infrastructure
• Policymaking
• Service Delivery
• London

Language dc:language.iso

en_ca

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14721/16420

OAI record oai:identifier

https://uwo.scholaris.ca/server/oai/request?verb=GetRecord&metadataPrefix=dim&identifier=oai%3Auwo.scholaris.ca%3A20.500.14721%2F16420