Increase Waste Diversion
Desired outcome: Increased waste diversion rate.
Measurement: Per cent of waste diverted
Importance
The environmental and economic challenges our community is facing today, including climate change, require new models and systems for how we treat our resources. Increasing resource recovery and waste reduction are key tactics used to reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions (GHGs). Continuing to improve our waste diversion rate will contribute to environmental protection and enhance community sustainability in the short- and long-term.
Over the last four years, we:
- Achieved a diversion rate of 50.1% in 2018. This is an increase of 5.4 percentage points from when this Term of Council Priority began.
- Implemented a number of actions under the Regions long-term waste management strategy, such as bi-weekly cart-based garbage collection, pilot testing curbside and multi-residential textile collection and organics collection in the Regions Long Term Care centres.
- Invested in the long-term waste diversion target of 75% by 2034 by purchasing a property to build a new anaerobic digestion facility to provide processing capacity for Peels green bin organics, to allow for expansion of the organics program to include pet waste and diapers and to convert food and organic waste into natural gas and fertilizer products.
- Worked closely with the Association of Municipalities of Ontario and other stakeholders to help the province develop and implement waste policies to improve food and organic waste diversion and to move full producer responsibility programs forward.
