The City of Edmonton is proposing changes that will affect the way you separate and dispose of your garbage.
Administration is proposing rules that would require people to separate their waste, according to a report heading to the utility committee next week. Among the changes being suggested is a rule that would stop Edmontonians from throwing out grass.
A recent audit found the city is only diverting half of its waste from the landfill. The goal is to divert 90 per cent of waste.
READ MORE: Edmonton’s long-praised waste management system struggling to divert 50% of residential garbage
Starting this September, the report recommends banning yard waste like grass clippings.
The picture below shows one day’s worth of organic waste, largely grass clippings, collected at the Edmonton Compost Facility in June 2013.
By 2020, the city wants residents to separate their leftover food and rotten vegetables from the rest of their garbage. And somewhere down the road, the city may limit how much garbage people can put on the curb and what kind of bags they use.
“To do a little bit more diversion proactively, grasscycling, those kinds of things, that will all help as well. So it’s not a hopeless situation,” Mayor Don Iveson said when he talked about the topic last week.
City officials call the proposed changes good first steps, but acknowledge they may be difficult for some.
“We recognize that this approach asks Edmontonians to change how they care for their yards, put out their waste for collection and recycle,” reads a statement from Doug Jones, deputy manager of city operations.
“We are committed to working with Edmontonians as we implement council’s new direction.”
READ MORE: Edmonton looking at whole new garbage collection system
This report will be discussed at the Feb. 23 utility committee meeting and recommended to the March 20 city council meeting.
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