A pat on the back for County of Simcoe residents who are doing their part.
You helped achieve a milestone with the diversion of organic waste from landfill.
The county has had a curbside green bin program in place since 2008, and on February 8 of this year, the county surpassed an overall total of 200,000 tonnes of organic waste diverted through the curbside program.
A report to county council on Tuesday said the diversion of organic waste has been steadily increasing.
"Recent significant increases can be attributed to the switch to biweekly garbage collection in 2020 and cart collection in 2021," according to the report.
At current tonnages, an overall total of 400,000 tonnes diverted could be reached by 2031, though the report says it does not take into consideration the increased diversion of organics from the garbage stream and increasing waste quantities as a result of population growth.
"200,000 tonnes of compacted organic waste is equivalent to approximately 140,000 cubic metres of saved landfill space," the report said. "When this is applied solely to the Oro landfill, this equates to almost four additional years of landfill capacity that has been recovered through the diversion of organic waste."
Still, the county says there is room for improvement.
"Approximately 35 per cent of available organic material set out curbside is placed in the garbage and disposed of unnecessarily in landfill."
Banner image - supplied - County of Simcoe
