Composting and Waste Reduction

Recently, Saanich Council requested that the Capital Regional District (CRD) consider a ban or fee on plastic shopping bags. Saanich’s resolution to the CRD is modelled on similar initiatives in Europe, including Ireland and Scotland, where a fee on plastic shopping bags has reduced use by 90 per cent. Even China has banned plastic bags (starting in June) and has also banned production of the plastic film from which they are made.

Millions of plastic bags end up at the Hartland landfill each year. As the petroleum-based product slowly deteriorates, the bags become a major source of leachate and contaminants in soil and groundwater. World-wide, the production of plastic bags accounts for four per cent of the planet’s oil supply.

A ban or tax on plastic bags would encourage consumers to switch to reusable bags, which are far less harmful for the environment and will reduce the tonnage of waste destined for the landfill each year.

Saanich Council is to be commended for this initiative. The District of Saanich has a strong record of environmental leadership, of which this is another example.

Removing plastic bags from the waste stream is an important first step toward a future without garbage. Like many communities in North America, our region consumes a lot of goods and disposes of a lot of waste. Hartland landfill, the destination for all of the Capital Region’s solid waste, annually receives 140,000 tonnes of waste materials. In 1989, to address the mountains of garbage accumulating at the landfill, the CRD became one of the first jurisdictions in Canada to offer a curbside recycling program, called “Blue Box Pickup.” The program diverts approximately 19,000 tonnes of waste from the landfill each year.

The CRD has established a 60 per cent diversion target by 2012. We are currently at a diversion rate of 34 per cent. This means that we must double our recycling and composting practices if we hope to meet the five-year target.

Meeting the target may not be as difficult as it sounds. More than 30 per cent of the waste materials at the landfill are organic products (e.g., yard and garden waste, food waste, and soiled paper) and could be composted. We could significantly reduce the amount of material ending up at the landfill by expanding our composting.

Oak Bay and View Royal have piloted curbside organic compost collection programs over the past year. Both programs have been highly successful and the pilots were renewed for another year.

If the Capital Regional District were to expand the program to include curbside compost collection across the region, we could eliminate the organic materials from the waste stream destined for the landfill. This would also yield a large amount of compost, which can be used by the district for landscaping. Any excess could perhaps be sold to help pay for the program.

In addition to compost collection, we can expand our plastics recycling program. At present, the region’s curbside recycling program precludes many household plastic containers (e.g., detergent bottles and caps, ice cream buckets, vitamin bottles and caps). Several organizations offer collection of these materials. By expanding our plastics resylcing to include these products, we can remove thousands of tonnes from the waste stream.

Finally, building materials from demolition or renovation (e.g., asphalt, metal, concrete) are a large source of waste. Many of these materials can be re-used and re-incorporated into construction projects. By working with local recycling firms and the construction industry, we can remove many of these materials from the waste stream by requiring
“re-construction” practices.

By banning plastic bags, introducing curbside compost collection, expanding our plastic recycling, and requiring “re-construction” of existing building materials, we could easily achieve the target of 60 per cent by 2012, and, perhaps, a future without garbage.