‘Yuck factor’ blamed for low green bin usage rate
Posted Oct 18, 2017 06:58:31 AM.
Last Updated Oct 18, 2017 07:34:51 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
OTTAWA — Despite spending $350,000 on recycling education, only about half of Ottawa household use their green bins and the city is having trouble convincing the rest to separate their kitchen scraps from dry garbage.
The “yuck factor” of scraping gooey organic materials into the green bins is getting some of the blame, after a city hall committee got an update on the green bin program and the city’s contract with Orgaworld.
Ottawa’s 2016 diversion rate for organics was 44 per cent — one of the lowest in the province.
Coun. David Chernushenko, the chair of the city’s environment committee, tells Postmedia that while he knows city staff are trying hard to increase the organics diversion rate, they’re clearly not doing enough of the right things.
One idea to increase organics diversion is to allow plastic bags to collect kitchen scraps and coffee grounds, instead of paper. So far, Orgaworld has refused to allow plastics in with organics.
A local strategy is being presented to the environment committee next spring —– after the province releases a new plan for both recycling and composting.
