A committee of city council has approved a two-year public engagement project on waste reduction in the city.
London is well off new provincial targets for waste diversion.
The province wants cities to divert 60 per cent of their waste from landfills, which is well above London’s current level of 45 per cent.
One of the reasons for that is London’s lack of a program to deal with organic waste.
Director of environmental, fleet and waste services with the City of London, Jay Stanford, believes the time has come for the city to make a decision on its landfill site, which is expected to be full within eight years.
“When you’ve got eight years capacity, it sounds like a long time but when you go through proper engagement processes, you go through all of the requirements under the Environmental Assessment Act that look at the environmental aspect, the health and safety aspect. It’s a long project, it’s a big project that requires lots of community input,” said Stanford.
Stanford said London could look to Edmonton for ideas as that city now turns its organic material into fuel.
The public engagement process will include public meetings, open houses and online commentary.
London has considered green bin programs in the past, but decided against it because the cost was too high.
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