Green Bin use in Waterloo Region up 105 per cent in 2017

Some garbage news that doesn't stink.

Waterloo Region has taken some major steps forward when it comes to diverting garbage from the landfill through the use of recycling and compost.

In 2017, the Region achieved a 60 per cent diversion rate, up 8 per cent from the year before.

In fact, in the last several years Waterloo Region appeared to have plateaued around 52 or 53 per cent diversion rate.

The breakthrough came with the move to biweekly garbage pick-up which encourages more people to make use of the Blue Box and Green Bins that are still collected every week.

Green Bin use in 2017 was up 105 per cent, Blue Box up 8 per cent, and yard waste increased 3 per cent.

The result is 24 per cent less garbage heading to the landfill.

The benefit of this is both environmental and financial.

On the financial side, the increased diversion will increase the lifespan of landfill.

Estimates predict it can remain in use for 20 more years, after that it is likely the Region will have to pay ship its garbage to another community.

On the environmental side, green bin use helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

According to Waste Coordinator Kathleen Barsoum, landfills are not meant for food waste, 'landfills are designed to compact and seal garbage in, healthy decomposition of organic material needs air and water, and landfills are not a healthy environment for decomposition' says Barsoum.

