Green bin program earns committee endorsement from London councillors

Curbside composting moved one step closer to becoming a reality in London on Thursday.

City councillors, meeting as the strategic priorities and policy committee, voted 12-2 to endorse a waste-diversion action plan that could mean a fully implemented green bin program by 2022.

The two votes against came from Ward 1 Coun. Michael van Holst and Ward 10 Coun. Paul Van Meerbergen. Ward 12 Coun. Elizabeth Peloza was marked as absent from the vote.

The endorsed plan aims to divert 60 per cent of the city’s waste away from the landfill by 2023 — 15 per cent more than London’s current diversion rates.

A proponent for the waste-diversion action plan and a member of the city’s waste management working group, Ward 11 Coun. Stephen Turner told fellow councillors a green bin program is long overdue for London.

“We’re really far behind,” Turner said.

The city’s landfill site has approved capacity until 2025, and Ward 5 Coun. Maureen Cassidy said landfill expansion requires waste diversion.

“We will not be allowed to expand that landfill unless we meet the provincial requirements for waste diversion,” Cassidy said.

City staff estimate the green bin program and revised garbage pickup, both actions included in the endorsed plan, could divert as much as 10 per cent alone.

The plan also proposes new or expanded recycling programs and the implementation of a mixed-waste processing pilot to recover organics and other materials from household garbage.

As a whole, the plan would clock in at $17.6 million over the 2020-23 budget. Final approval for the plan won’t arrive until March 2 when council plans to rubber-stamp a final multi-year budget.

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Other committee notes

Thursday’s committee meeting was the latest in an ongoing effort to hammer out a new multi-year budget for London.

Committee members reviewed a number of business cases that aimed to either cut costs in the budget or provide additional investments.

City politicians also endorsed four other spending cases, including putting an additional $6.7 million toward a homelessness-prevention initiative called the Co-ordinated Informed Response Program and investing $722,000 in a program aimed at stimulating affordable housing builds through low or no-interest loans to non-profit groups and developers.

Budget talks continue on Friday, with a finalized budget set to arrive on March 2.

— With files from Global News Radio 980 CFPL’s Matthew Trevithick