Saskatoon households more wasteful than average

Saskatoon households more wasteful than average

September 16, 2014 (Star Phoenix) The introduction of curbside recycling helped divert two-thirds more waste from the landfill over one year, but Saskatoon families continue to generate about 50 per cent more garbage than the national average.

A new City of Saskatoon report on waste management details that recycling programs diverted 67 per cent more material from the landfill in 2013 over the previous year, accounting for 12,622 tons of material.

Even though the rate of waste disposal continues to decline, according to the report, Saskatoon's amount of garbage collected per household, 0.95 tons, remains far higher than the national average of 0.64 tons. Saskatoon's rate translates to 252 kilograms per person, down from 265 kg per person in 2012.

The average weight of garbage in the city's 66,000 collection carts in 2013 was 22 kilograms, compared to the national average of 13 kg.

Joanna Fedyk, the executive director of the Saskatchewan Waste Reduction Council, said the amount of waste diverted in 2013 was impressive, given that the single-family home curbside recycling program just started in January 2013.

"That's pretty good," Fedyk said in a phone interview. "That's a good start. "It takes time for people to get used to how (these programs) work." Fedyk said she could not speculate on why Saskatoon would rank so much higher than the national average in producing waste, but she did point out Saskatoon and Regina were two of the last cities of their size to introduce a curbside recycling program.

Brenda Wallace, the city's director of environmental and corporate initiatives, said Saskatoon has not faced the immediate concern over landfill space that other communities in Canada have.

"Thinking of diverting waste is new to us because we haven't had our backs against the wall," said Wallace, who helped write the report that was presented to the city's environment, utilities and corporate services committee Monday.

Even so, the report says Saskatoon has one of the highest rates in Canada of people hauling their trash to the landfill, which caused operating costs at the landfill to nearly double from 2008 to $29 per ton in 2013.

The number of paying vehicles at the landfill has declined from 98,518 in 2008 to 81,337 in 2013 and the total tons of trash received dropped from 67,308 in 2008 to 52,878 in 2013.

The report says if the amount of waste diverted from the landfill from recycling continues, it will add five-and-a-half years to the life of the landfill, which has been operating since 1955.

"We'd like to see a 100 per cent increase," Wallace said of the waste-diversion rate. "We're not quite there."

Coun. Zach Jeffries asked whether it might be time to review the frequency of garbage collection in light of the increasing popularity of recycling.

Saskatoon's fleet of 18 garbage trucks makes about 43 collections per household per year, while about 26 bins of recycling are picked up. Of the 12,622 tons of recycling collected in 2013, paper and cardboard accounted for 74 per cent, household glass seven per cent and aluminum three per cent.

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