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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In Vancouver food isn’t just trashed, it’s composted

The City of Vancouver estimates that one-third of household garbage generated by area households is actually made up of food scraps. Rather than toss out those food scraps, they can be composted, saving precious landfill space and cutting down on greenhouse gas emissions. It’s all part of the Residential Food Scraps Collection program.

The Source Separated Organics program is aided by Harvest’s organic’s processing facility, Fraser Richmond Soil & Fibre. Vancouver residents can currently add uncooked fruit and vegetables, coffee grounds and filters, tea bags, egg shells and bin liners of newsprint or brown paper to their yard trimming carts for collection for composting. The change went into effect on Earth Day and serves as an additional resource for those with backyard composters.

Just remember, no plastic bags can be added to the cart. Here’s a handy guide for starters:

Does your community have a food scraps recycling program? Do you compost? Tell us about it?

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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