District of Muskoka Councillors are applauding the results of the first year of the clear bag program.
At the March 18 Engineering and Public Works Committee meeting, staff provided councillors with results to date following the implementation of the clear bag program last March.
“We saw that over 336,000 bags of garbage were eliminated by only changing the colour of the garbage bag, and so that represents a decrease of approximately 37 per cent in curbside residential garbage set out, and it represents an increase of approximately 80 per cent of organics. So that’s almost 1,300 tons of organics diverted from the landfill,” Renee Recoskie, District Director of Waste Management and Environmental Services, told councillors.
Recoskie said if similar numbers are replicated over the life of the Roswearne Landfill, “we could save two years of landfill space if we continue on this trend,” she noted. “We’ve seen organics diverted and now they’re being beneficially reused in generating compost.” She said the amount of waste diverted from the landfill equates to a decrease of more than 1,100 tons of CO2. “And that’s the equivalent of removing 240 gas cars off the road for a year.”
“That is unbelievable, and I know… some people are still really hung up on this online, but I think that it’s really something to be proud of,” said Councillor Heidi Lorenz, who chairs the committee. Lorenz thanked staff and community members for their efforts.
“I just wanted to say to Renee and your team, this campaign was thoughtful. You went through it methodically. You really just paid attention and look at these results, incredible!” said Councillor Brenda Rhodes. “And when we talk about tons, I think that’s hard to conceptualize, but a blue whale weighs approximately 105 tons, and we’re talking about 2,690 tons of garbage that didn’t go into our landfill. That is incredible, and really it is because of your leadership and your team,” added Rhodes.
Councillor Rick Maloney said maximizing the life of Muskoka’s only landfill in Bracebridge is important. “From my perspective, we want to maximize our landfill, and we know how much of a challenge it is to develop new landfill sites,” he said. “The good news is about the extension of the life of the landfill and getting the maximum out of the landfill so that we do not have to prematurely… consider an expansion of the landfill until it’s absolutely necessary.”
District Chair Jeff Lehman said even delaying the end of life of Muskoka’s only landfill for two years would yield savings in the millions. He said if staff can translate two years of saved landfill life into a dollar figure in savings, “for those who really want to know how much it saved the taxpayer as much as how much it protected the environment, I think that would strengthen even further the message out to our residents.”
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