75% Waste Diversion – Is it possible??

Canadian landfills contribute 29 million tonnes of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere each year – almost 1 tonne per person per year.

Mt. Lorne Garbage Management Society is committed to increasing waste diversion to 75% and thereby lowering greenhouse gas emissions as well as achieving all the other benefits of waste diversion.

Currently we are diverting approximately 40%, with a minimal compost and organics program. While this is good, both on a national and international basis, it is not good enough. It is not sustainable.

We are aiming for 75% waste diversion.

 

Mt. Lorne Garbage Management has been working towards increased waste diversion for several years by promoting a less sorting - more convenience approach to recycling. This approach entails only 4 areas for separating.

Paper – All paper products are recyclable whether they are white paper, newspaper, cardboard, books or magazines. The reason they are separated is that the more pure the type of paper the higher the buying price (manufacturers buying from recycling centers or recycling brokers)

Plastic – All plastic products are also recyclable whether they are yogurt containers, plastic bags or milk jugs. Again, the separation of these types of plastics is for financial reasons.

Cans and bottles (glass, tin and plastic) – All drink containers, except for milk and milk substitutes i.e. soy or rice milk are refundable as well as recyclable. They can be sorted out for refunds. Other non drink containers i.e. tin cans and glass jars can go in this container and be quickly separated out at the recycling center.

Compost – all organic material is compostable. This includes food scraps as well as contaminated paper products including paper towels from washrooms, dryer lint, leaves, grass etc.

We began our journey towards higher waste diversion rates by initiating several pilot projects over the past two years.

2005 Establishing waste diversion rates

We weighed all recycling and garbage (government weigh scales) over a 6 month period to determine our waste diversion rates.
- Results 34% - not including waste metal or compost diversion.

How much can a determined recycling family actually recycle?

This was an 8 family project weighing all recyclables, compostables and garbage to determine their overall waste diversion over a 3 month period.
- Results: 72% waste diversion. Two out of the eight families diverted over 90%.

How much garbage can be recycled?

Volunteers sorted through a dumpster of garbage and separated out the recyclables and compostables from the garbage to see how much ‘’garbage’’ was actually recyclable. - Results: 84% by weight, 79% by volume of garbage could have been either recycled or composted.

Our latest project

We are currently beginning another project to demonstrate the feasibility of achieving 75% waste diversion. We are working with LMCA, Golden Horn School and Aroma Borealis to show that high recycling rates are possible in educational and commercial settings. In order for this to be successful we need to be make recycling and composting as easy and convenient as possible. So each participant will set up recycling and composting stations where needed and separate their waste resources into PAPER, PLASTIC, COMPOST AND CANS & BOTTLES.

If these institutions with their more complex requirements can reach significant waste diversion results, then it should be a piece of cake for single residential families to do so.

We'll keep you posted!