Anne McEwen
For years Ottawa residents have been filling their garbage cans with a valuable resource: compost. An astonishing 54 per cent of garbage collected on Ottawa curbs and sent to the landfill could actually be composted and sold as soil fertilizer.
Several Canadian cities have been picking up green bins of rotten fruit, kitty litter and moldy leftovers as part of municipal composting programs for years. Edmonton has had an organics program since 1998, while over three quarters of Nova Scotia now has similar service. More recently, Toronto came on board with its own program.
Ottawa has yet to adopt composting, with citizens and columnists alike deriding the idea of having to sort waste into yet another box – this one a little yuckier than the rest. According to the Council for Canadian Composting, postponing waste reduction is no longer an option; our landfills are filling up.
Composting has been proven to work and is the cornerstone of Ontario’s waste reduction plan. Action is needed, and a tough line must be taken with those reluctant to participate.
Approximately 32 per cent of Ottawa’s household waste will be diverted from landfills through blue and black box recycling and seasonal lawn and yard waste pick up.
While that might sound impressive, compare that rate to that of cities with composting programs, which can divert up to 80 per cent of waste, and Ottawa’s inaction becomes inexcusable.
The city has not been entirely out of the loop. A pilot program with weekly organic green bin collection called Compost Plus has been in place since 2001. Over 5,000 homes in southern Ottawa neighborhoods participate, although nearly twice as many have the option of participating.
Aside from the lack of voluntary participation, the results are impressive. Participating areas have diverted over half of their waste, and 80 per cent of participants surveyed by the city say they are satisfied with the service.
In the fall, 189 households voluntarily switched to garbage pickup every two weeks, but with compost pick-up weekly. Their diversion rate skyrocketed to almost 90 per cent.
Before the holidays, City council had an opportunity to act. Council reviewed Ottawa’s waste management contracts.
While the council agreed to set a target of 60 per cent waste diversion from landfill, it narrowly rejected a proposal to switch city garbage pick-up to a biweekly schedule. And at the same time, council decided not to expand Compost Plus, due to associated costs and limits on facility capacities.
In the approved waste management plan an organics program is “envisioned” to be available city-wide in 2008 – coincidentally the same target date for 60 per cent waste diversion.
What the pilot project and the recent debate over garbage pickup reduction have shown is that many residents are unwilling to volunteer to reduce landfill-bound garbage.
Sorting was a skill that was taught in kindergarten and an unacceptable excuse for not participating in recycling programs.
While people are reluctant to change their routines, familiarity will come with time, given the chance. Other municipalities have already blazed the composting trail for us, ironing out the problems of pest control and odour.
The answer isn’t just offering composting programs, such as the Compost Plus pilot. Residents must be made to participate.
In Nova Scotia, disposing of organic compostables in the trash is illegal. Recently, clear garbage bags have been made mandatory in order to ease enforcement.
Although this route has a “Big Brother” element of garbage monitoring, it forces people to get used to composting organic waste.
Another option is reducing garbage pickup, as was debated in November and tried successfully with volunteers. With a smaller garbage allowance, residents will be forced to reduce waste by putting organics in the green box.
Various municipalities have adopted a “pay as you throw” system, where the amount of garbage collected is limited and excess bags must be paid for.
A 2004 discussion paper on waste reduction was produced by the Ontario Ministry of the Environment. It shows that this system has increased waste diversion by 10 to 15 per cent alone.
Most importantly, throwing organic waste into the trash can no longer be socially acceptable, just as trashing a stack of newspapers now seems ridiculously short-sighted.
Ottawa will need to find incentives to encourage people to compost, but negative reinforcement cannot be ruled out. Stubborn and lazy critics should not be permitted to fill our landfills with the valuable resource of compost.
Susan Antler, the executive director of the Compost Council of Canada, puts composting into its proper perspective. She asks people to imagine how stupid trashing compost will look in the civilization museums of tomorrow.
“The writing is on the wall,” she says. Composting has been proven as the most effective waste reduction method. “People want to be given the tools to do the right thing.”
Unfortunately, it looks like they might also need a push.