Organic waste collection will have start in Oak Bay

[VicHockeyFan]

Organic waste collection will have start in Oak Bay
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Font: * * * * Carolyn Heiman, Times Colonist
Published: Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Food left on dinner plates in Oak Bay and View Royal can soon be diverted from the landfill and turned into garden soil.

The Capital Regional District is launching an organics collection pilot project in Oak Bay this week as part its efforts to cut the amount of garbage not being recycled. View Royal collection will start in January.

Under the $237,000 pilot, homeowners will be given dedicated organic collection containers along with biodegradable liners to collect material such as fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, bones, non-liquid dairy products, stale baked goods and soiled paper products. Yard and garden waste will not be accepted.

Tom Watkins, planner for the CRD solid waste program, said the one-year pilot will determine the best way to collect and recycle organic material unsuitable for backyard composting.

Watkins, whose job includes analyzing the kind of material that goes into the dump, said 30 per cent of garage now put into the landfill is organic material, which doesn't include soiled paper. Many of those materials, such as meat, dairy and bakery products, are unsuitable for backyard composting, but can be processed in a controlled facility with specialized equipment.

The CRD will ship the material to International Composting Corporation in Nanaimo as there isn't a facility in the region that recycles that material.

An similar pilot was cancelled in Oak Bay in 1992 and 1993, but Mayor Chris Causton said that program was likely ahead of its time.

"I'm glad we're trying it again because there is a lot more interest in it today," said Causton.

Mechanical difficulties with collection vehicles contributed to its demise and many residents complained the organic collections were smelly and attracted flies and other pests.

Watkins said the biodegradable liners and a recently replaced collection vehicle in Oak Bay should eliminate these issues.

Oak Bay and View Royal were selected because they have different collection models. Oak Bay's garbage is picked up every two weeks by municipal staff. View Royal uses a private contractor for weekly collection. In Oak Bay, 2,200 homes will be part of the pilot and the residents will receive 120-litre collection containers for organic material while View Royal's will be smaller at 48 litres.

As well, Oak Bay generates the highest per capita amount of recyclable material. The data doesn't make it clear if this is because of higher per capita participation rate or higher levels of waste generation.

A draft strategic plan for solid waste calls for a 60 per cent diversion rate by 2012 and a recent report to the environment committee said major initiatives related to organic recovery need to be implemented to meet that goal. By 2020, the proposed reduction of waste is 85 per cent.

"They're ambitious goals," said Watkins, noting they haven't been approved by the CRD board yet. Last year 158,800 metric tons of garbage was put into the region's landfill site.

For more information on the project call the CRD hotline at 360-3030 or e-mail mailto:hotline@crd.bc.ca or visit crd.bc.ca/es/organicspilot

Meanwhile, an Oak Bay community group is launching a monthly collection of soft plastics at Carnarvon Park in an effort to further reduce landfill waste.



I'm not in to recycling. Everyone that owns a house should just dig a big hole in their back-yard and keep throwing stuff in.

[Holden West]

^Future archaeologists will thank you.

[VicHockeyFan]

Exactly. Native "middens" are just garbage dumps.

[Rorschach]

Video:

Should we recycle?

[VicHockeyFan]

http://cfax1070.com/polls.php?poll=1463

Polls

Do you think kitchen waste should be disposed of separately from other garbage?
Answer Votes %
Yes 377 54%
No 315 46%
Total: 692 100%

[Holden West]

I doubt Americans (at least those outside California) would be so enthusiastic: "It's my God-given right as a US citizen to toss my carrot peels in the trash along with my soda cans and no commie make-work project can tell me otherwise".