BY BILL BRADLEY
To meet provincial recycling targets and extend the life of the main landfill site, Greater Sudbury is expanding its waste diversion program to include organic waste.
Organic waste includes fruits and vegetables, meat and bones, sauces and gravy, dairy products, fish and seafood, baked goods and non-recyclable paper such as microwave popcorn bags.
“We are mandated to meet provincial standards of 60 percent diversion by 2008,” said Danielle Braney, the city’s acting director of solid waste, at a press conference Monday afternoon.
“Currently Greater Sudbury keeps 38 percent of waste from going to our landfill. Organics represent 30 percent of the waste stream. If we fully implemented this compost recovery program we could beat our guidelines by diverting 65 percent by 2009,” said Braney.
“Though we have many decades of space left in our existing landfill, residents should realize that on average it takes up to seven years to get permission for a new landfill and new landfills can be very expensive. The longer we can keep operating our existing landfill, the more money we can save taxpayers later on,” she said.
The pilot program is estimated to cost city taxpayers $500,000 but funding is being sought from other levels of government, said Braney.
Over 1,000 Sudbury residents, selected in all 12-city wards, are testing out the new program. They have been given a white organic kitchen catcher with compostable bags, green animal-proof organic curbside container and an information kit on what to put in their new containers. If successful, all Sudbury residents could be participating in a year.
“We’re conducting this organic waste pilot project to see if we can do it on a city-wide scale,” said Braney.
Program co-ordinator Carrie Anne Marassato said that organic collection is not intended to replace backyard composting.
“The idea is to enhance composting say for times of the year, like the winter, when backyard composting slows down due to the cold weather. Also you are not advised to add meat and bones to backyard composters because of animal problems. With this new system you can add them to your compost bag in the white container and put that out on collection day in the secure green container because we deal with this waste at the landfill site,” said Marassato.
City trucks that pick up material in blue boxes will also empty the green organic bins at the same time on the same day. Because the trucks have two compartments, the waste will not get mixed up, making it easier to deal with at the landfill, Marassato said.
For more information, phone 673-BLUE (2583).
