Port Coquitlam residents can add food scraps to green carts

Canada’s Port Coquitlam last year expanded their waste reduction efforts by introducing the addition of leftover food scraps and food-soiled papers to green waste carts. Everything from meats, dairy, bones and pizza boxes can be added to those carts, as can fruit and vegetable scraps.

Port Coquitlam was the first city in metro Vancouver to initiate a widespread recycling program that targets kitchen waste. It benefits taxpayers by saving about $45,500 per year in biweekly waste pickup. The program also diverts 2,400 tonnes of household waste from landfills. The Source Separated Organics program is assisted by Harvest’s organic’s processing facility, Fraser Richmond Soil & Fibre.

All households that receive green waste collection may participate, year-round. Here are the details:

• All you need to participate is a pail with a lid, such as an ice creal pail that you can store in your kitchen under the sink.
• Store your food waste in this container or wrap them in newspaper and place them in a paper bag.
• Transfer your food scraps into a green waste cart alongside yard waste for pick up.

For more information, visit the Web site.

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UK moves forward with renewable energy pledge

Anaerobic digestion is a hot topic in the United Kingdom these days when it comes to waste management. The Coalition government is forging ahead with its highly publicized plans to provide more anaerobic digestors to generate heat and electricity from organic waste.

According to an article in today’s BusinessGreen.com, ministers met with representatives across the industry to identify any barriers to the sustainable technology.

As reporter James Murray noted:

“The technology is fueled using biomass such as animal manure, sewage or food waste, which is digested by enzymes working in the absence of oxygen to produce methane. The methane is captured and can be burned off onsite to produce electricity and heat, converted into biofuel, or upgraded to biomethane which can be fed into the national gas grid. The resulting waste material can also be used as fertilizer.”

Anaerobic digestion is well suited to farms and businesses that produce large amounts of organic and food waste. As the article mentions, it also has the power to reduce the amount of organic waste going to landfills and can cut greenhouse emissions.

Roundtable discussions will tackle everything from the financial benefits and viability of using anaerobic digestion to ways the government can harness the power of biogas produced through this energy conversion technology.

If you were in attendance, what questions or concerns would you have? What would you most want to know about the addition of this technology on a much broader scale?

Burnaby adds food scraps recycling to yard waste pick-up

On June 7, Burnaby residents living in a single or duplex home that receives curbside pickup of yard trimmings also had the option of joining the Burnaby’s Food Scraps Recycling Program. Less than one month in, food scraps and paper products were added to the mix, reducing the household waste by half and helping the effort to create a more sustainable community. The recycling initiative reaches some 218,000 residents in British Columbia, Canada.

The Source Separated Organics program, aided by Harvest’s organic’s processing facility, Fraser Richmond Soil & Fibre, is simple. Residents need only collect food scraps and food-soiled paper products in an ice cream type bucket or large covered plastic container in the kitchen. Those scraps could then be emptied into the yard trimmings container, which is set out at the regularly scheduled collection day and time. It does not have to be full to be collected.

Beginners might have some questions about what types of scraps can be recycled. These charts cover the basics:

For more tips and tricks on how best to make this program work for you, and benefit the environment, check out the site at www.burnaby.ca.

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