Markham is aiming to achieve “zero waste” on its Main Street with an unprecedented pilot program to replace trash bins with solar-powered recycling compactors.
The strategy will be rolled out along the historic strip and in neighbouring Main Street Unionville this summer, with the town installing 24 of the new recycling containers alongside scaled-down garbage bins. Each bin will cost the town about $4,000.
“I don’t think we send the right message to the public if recycling is difficult but garbage is easy,” said Claudia Marsales, Markham’s senior manager of waste and environment. “The message we want to send is … let’s make recycling easy and garbage difficult.”
While other cities in Canada and the United States have used similar bins to compact trash, Markham says it will be the first community to try it with recycling bins.
The “Big Blue Belly” receptacle, which is about the size of a standard bin but can hold four to five times more material, takes all forms of recyclables, from plastic bottles to cans to paper. The solar-operated unit automatically compacts its contents, and once full, wireless software alerts Markham’s waste department, with a goal to reduce the number of necessary pickups by 50%.
“Not only are you saving your operational costs, your manpower, your trucks you’re saving on carbon, you’re giving the proper messaging,” Ms. Marsales said, pegging the expected savings in the tens of thousands of dollars.
Four of the new bins are already in place at local community centres as a demonstration, but the full rollout – approved recently in council – will occur in the coming weeks.
To support the initiative, local businesses along the two Main Streets are being asked to use recyclable packaging wherever possible. Polystyrene food containers, for example, will be axed in favour of a recyclable alternative.
Comments
Want to discuss? Please read our Commenting Policy first.