City to expand composting pilot project
The city of Beaconsfield is hoping more residents jump on the composting bandwagon as part of an effort to reduce the amount of garbage picked up during weekly curbside collections which then ends up in a landfill.
The city announced last week that it will expand on the success of a composting pilot project that was launched a year ago with about 250 participants. Council awarded contracts to Orbis Canada totalling almost $ 75,000 to supply 2,000 compost boxes and accompanying kitchen waste collectors.
The backyard composting program is part of the city ’s plan to reduce the amount of reusable residue or recyclable items that are being thrown out during regular garbage collections.
Leona Kemp, who took part in the pilot project, said although she was new to composting, it has since become routine.
“I never tried it before. I got really involved with it,” she said. “I’m looking forward to spring coming along and getting that first shovel full of my compost ( to use in my flower garden).”
Kemp said the city organized volunteers to come provide composting tips to newbies such as herself.
“One of the master composters, volunteers, came over and gave me very helpful suggestions and I just took off from there,” she said. “It’s looking good. You can’t really tell now because it’s all frozen but I still add to it all winter. You just can’t stir it up now.”
Beaconsfield is relying on voluntary home composting as one alternative to furnishing its residents with rolling bins for regular organic/ green waste curbside collections held in most West Island municipalities, including Dorval, Kirkland, Pointe- Claire and Ste.Anne-de- Bellevue.
The city aims to stick with its weekly household garbage and blue- bin recycling collections.
“Beaconsfield is trying to avoid the classic third pick up, the brown bin or the organic bin,” said councillor Karen Messier, who heads the city’s environmental advisory committee. “The composting is only a small part of it.”
On top of backyard composting, Beaconsfield will deploy seasonal green/ garden waste collections, for which it awarded a $ 61,000 contract to Services Matrec during a special council meeting Monday. As well, the same firm was awarded a $ 34,000 contract for the doorto- door collection and removal of fallen leaves and another $ 21,000 contract to collect and transport bulky items, the latter of which will be done monthly between April and November.
The city hopes to target green residue, or garden waste, as the key factor in reducing the amount of regular garbage being collected. The city won’t be supplying any bins for these curbside green collections, as residents can use paper bags, their own garbage cans or other suitable containers, Messier said.
“We’ve increased the number of green runs this year to 22 from about eight,” Messier said. “We are giving people the opportunity to divert the green residue out of their garbage cans to other collection streams.”
The city will be sending residents a calendar with dates and guidelines for its various collections.
The city is also encouraging residents to grasscycle, which is to leave clippings on their lawn as a natural fertilizer, Messier said. “That eliminates all that grass from going into the garbage can,” she added.
According to the city, about 65 per cent, on average, of what is tossed out for garbage can actually be diverted from landfill.
Beaconsfield has been one of the worst garbage producers by population on the island of Montreal, Messier said. “We have a long way to go to change some habits,” she said.