If you want to throw out a lot of junk, this is the week to do it.

Starting Jan. 16, the garbage police will be watching.

This is the final week Londoners can put out additional trash for pickup, because starting next week the city will enforce its rules limiting garbage to three containers, said Jay Stanford, city trash czar.

“The three-bag limit is in effect now, but has not been enforced — now, it will be,” said Stanford, director of waste management for the city.

London is trying to encourage waste reduction, reducing the amount of garbage flowing to landfills.

A city report in May concluded that even a small reduction in garbage, 0.5 to one per cent, will mean 800 to 1,600 tonnes diverted annually from the landfill.

“This is a reminder we should recycle and compost more, and it aligns with what most Londoners are doing right now,” Stanford said.

Starting Jan. 16, Londoners can put out a maximum of three garbage bags, or containers, and every additional one will need a tag costing $1.50.

If you put out a fourth bag without a tag, it will be left behind.

As for what makes a container, a can that can hold several bags is still just one container, but one garbage bag at the curb also is one container.

The only limit is a bag cannot weigh more than 20 kilograms and a can cannot be larger than 125 litres.

Yes, that means three garbage cans with several bags inside can make their way to the curb free of charge, while a neighbour putting out four bags has to pay up.

“We had to draw the line somewhere,” Stanford said. “This was the easiest way to do it, the simplest way.”

For homes that have special circumstances, such as home dialysis that produces a lot of waste, the city wants to work with residents one-on-one for a solution, Stanford said.

Collection-exemption days also will continue, meaning there are no limits on garbage these days:

• Following Thanksgiving;

• Following Christmas;

• Spring collection in late April, early May;

• Collection at the start of September.

Bulky material, such as furniture and household goods, will still be picked up at no extra charge.

There is no limit to recycling.

The city had a four-container limit on waste since January 2006. Since then, the average household weight of garbage has reduced by about 20 per cent; from 15.4 kilograms per pickup in 2005 to 12.6 kilograms in 2016, stated a city report in May.

Now, about two garbage containers are put out by Londoners, on average.

ndebono@postmedia.com

twitter.com/NormatLFPress

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Where to buy a tag

Garbage tags like the one above are available for $1.50 each at:

North London Optimist Community Centre,1345 Cheapside St.

South London Community Pool, 585 Bradley Ave.

Canada Games Aquatic Centre, 1045 Wonderland Rd. North

Carling Heights Optimist Community Centre, 656 Elizabeth St.

Kiwanis Seniors’ Community Centre, 78 Riverside Dr.

London city hall, 300 Dufferin Ave.

City EnviroDepots

1450 Oxford St. W.

28 Clarke Rd. S.

21462 Clarke Rd. N.

3502 Manning Dr.