One of the city’s current projects, presumably on behalf of the environment, is broken. So how about fixing it before even more citizens get perturbed?

The subject is the 30-gallon paper bags now being mandated for yard and garden refuse, in place of the plastic bags that so many used for so long. The paper theory is notable, but it’s not working because the available bags are too small, too fragile and often unmanageable. They tend to be soaked and weakened by rain and burst far too easily.

There is an option: renting a city trash cart. But even that is not big enough to handle a lot of the debris that the average home-dweller accumulates, in the spring and fall in particular. It would be impossible to have one cart big enough to handle most jobs. And where does somebody whose garage already is overtaxed put the cart between collections? Park it by the patio? That would be attractive. Near the front porch? Try to hide it behind a brick wing or at the side of the house? What about maneuvering a heavily laden cart from an obscure, perhaps muddy spot to the curb for collection day?

The cart option may sound good but it, too, is inadequate for most.

A new version of the paper trash bag appears to be needed immediately.

First, the currently acceptable bags are so deep that about the only way an average person can get them fully open is to pull them over the head, muddle around until the bottom flares out. After a while, one might find a broom long enough and wide enough not to poke a hole in the bottom, but need there be such a hassle?

If there is any breeze at all, no way will the tall 30-gallon bags stand for very long. Plastic inserts can be used to keep them open while they are being filled, but the bags are still too tubular to allow for easy and maximum input. Then when one tries to pack the sacks full, they often split, especially after the plastic inserts are removed. So that entails getting out masking tape, or some other binding material that will be considered environmentally friendly, and launching into a repair mode.

City officials who might have talked to people using the paper bags while working to clean their yards this spring surely have encountered many unhappy campers.

Why can’t stronger, reinforced 40-gallon bags be made available (50 gallons would be even better)? Why can’t they be squattier, if there is such a word, rather than so tall, thin and hostile to entry?

It’s all well and good to get the plastic bag out of the composting process, and the paper bag option is a good one. But why not give people bags that work rather than the restrictive, fragile and frustrating ones now available?

The paper bag collection process is “broke,” and the sooner somebody fixes it, the happier and more jovial most local yard and garden enthusiasts will be. Why should something we have to pay for be so difficult to use?