In advance of Earth Day on Saturday (April 22), the City of Peterborough provided a first look at the city’s green bin program for organic waste coming this fall.
At a media event in the parking lot of Eastgate Park on Ashburnham Drive on Monday morning, the city demonstrated the new collection trucks, including the automated equipment that will be used to pick up and empty the large green bins during curbside collection.
All eligible households will receive one of the heavy-duty pest-proof bins, which include wheels and a locking mechanism on the lid, as well as a smaller container for use in the kitchen.
The green bin program is being rolled out to most residential properties, except for multi-residential and condominium properties that receive private waste collection services.
The city will begin delivering the green bins to eligible households in September and expects delivery to be completed by mid-October, with weekly curbside green bin collection beginning on October 31.
The green bins can be used to dispose of all food waste (whether cooked, raw, or spoiled, as well as bones), soiled paper products (including tissues, paper towels, cardboard, and pizza boxes), and pet waste and kitty litter (as long as it is is not contained in plastic liners or plastic bags).
VIDEO: City of Peterborough green bin collection demonstration
Items that will be disposed of in the garbage include non-recyclable product packaging, coffee pods, diapers and wipes, feminine hygiene products, and plastic bags and film (overwrap).
Organic material collected in the green bin program will be processed at the city’s Green Resource Organics Works (GROW) centralized composting facility. At full capacity, the facility could accept up to 40,000 tonnes of organic material per year from the city and county of Peterborough.
According to a media release from the city, diverting organic material from the landfill for composting will reduce methane gas production at the landfill and will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 1,943 tonnes of carbon dioxide in 2030 and by a total of 79,305 tonnes between 2023 and 2050.
As organic material makes up about 40 per cent of residential waste in Canada, diverting organics away from the current garbage generated by Peterborough households into the new weekly green bin program means the city’s garbage collection can shift to an every-other-week schedule.
Along with the green bin program and the shift to every-other-week garbage collection, the city will require the use of clear bags for curbside garbage collection beginning October 31.
Waste audits in Peterborough in 2020-2021 found that about 10 per cent of material in curbside garbage bags was recyclable material.
