Metro Vancouver ups efforts to get you to sort food scraps
Posted September 10, 2019 6:34 am.
METRO VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Do you separate all the organics from the rest of your trash? All of them?
Metro Vancouver is beefing up efforts to get you to properly sort your waste by enhancing its “Hey! Food Scraps Aren’t Garbage” campaign.
“Thanks to the combined efforts of residents, businesses and member jurisdictions, our region remains a leader in North America for waste diversion,” says Jack Froese, Chair of Metro Vancouver’s Zero Waste Committee.
“However, we can do even better – especially when it comes to green bin etiquette for avoidable food waste and plastic.”
The regional district says from 2015 through 2018, approximately 1.6 million tonnes of organics have been diverted from the landfill, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by over half a million tonnes, adding that the organics recycling rate in Metro Vancouver went up 60 per cent between 2013 and 2017, currently standing at about 68 per cent.
And while Froese says the program has been very successful — nearly all single-family and multi-family homes in Metro Vancouver now have some form of organics collection — there is room for improvement.
To that end, Metro Vancouver’s website has new resources to help lessen the confusion around composting, including a comprehensive list of what goes in the green bin and what stays out. There are also some “scrappy” new mascots like Mr. Avocado Shell and Ms. Pineapple Top.
(Courtesy Metro Vancouver)
“Metro Vancouver is also reminding people not to put any type of plastic into their green bins,” explains Froese. “Plastic bags, containers, produce stickers and cutlery, even those labelled ‘biodegradable’ or ‘compostable’ may not break down fully at compost processing facilities and can contaminate the finished compost.”
Results from Metro Vancouver’s 2018 Food Waste Diaries research project, where about 500 households tracked their green bin usage, found that 57 per cent of food placed in the compost could be considered avoidable, consisting mostly of leafy vegetables, fruits (especially apples and bananas), leftovers and dairy products.
