No green bin, no garbage pickup: County revisits new strict policy for organics participation

CTV News

6 hours ago

The County of Simcoe is once again pushing to move forward with strict measures to improve resident participate in the organics program.
In 2024, solid waste management staff presented council with the tougher measures, and at the time, council encouraged focusing on promotion and education rather than enforcement.
In a Tuesday Committee of the Whole meeting, the program was laid out once again, emphasizing how the method is proven to drive increases in organics.
What It Means
If approved, the County would soft launch on November 1. At that time, collection crews would continue to pick up waste carts with no organics cart at the curb, but a cart hanger would be left behind to inform residents of the changes coming.
Then on December 1, the new program would be fully implemented, meaning residents must place their green bin (organics) at the curb for collection if they want their garbage to be picked up.
'The County's curbside organics program has been in place since 2008 and while it has been successful in diverting over 250,000 tonnes of organics from landfill there is still room for improvement,' County staff noted.
According to recent audits, 46 per cent of what is being tossed in the trash should have been placed in the organics cart.
If the new program goes forward, it's anticipated to increase organics tonnage by 10 to 20 per cent.
Backyard Composts Not Enough
Door-to-door investigations by County staff reportedly revealed 71 per cent of the roughly 90 households they spoke with threw all organic waste in the garbage, while 23 per cent had backyard composters.
'All residents that had a backyard composter had organics in their garbage cart, indicated that they used the garbage cart for items that did not belong in the backyard composter or were unaware of the other materials that could go in the cart,' the report stated.
The remaining six per cent stated other reasons for not using the green bin, including putting scraps in a field for animals to consume.
Landfill Woes
When organic waste like food scraps is thrown in the trash instead of the green bin, it causes several problems, the County highlighted. It takes up space in landfill runoff and produces methane - a greenhouse gas that is harmful to the environment.
The County says its two remaining landfills are almost full. The Nottawasaga landfill will close later this year, and the Oro landfill is expected to reach capacity by 2027. Once that happens, all garbage will need to be exported or sent to a waste energy facility, both of which the County says are costly.
If the program is implemented successfully, raising the organics capture rate to 60 per cent by 2028 could save the County around $30,000 per year. Hitting 75 per cent diversion could lead to yearly savings of more than $130,000, according to the report.
The County expects promoting the program to educate residents would come with an estimated $125,000 price tag. The County would also offer a reduced fee for organics carts to $25 from October 1 until December 31 for residents needing them.
The program would not apply to residents of Barrie or Orillia, which have their own waste collection programs.