Compost Becomes 'Rocket Fuel’
A Coquitlam townhouse complex is the first Metro Vancouver affordable-housing facility to get The Rocket: a multi-family, automated, on-site composting system. Malaspina Village residents will be using the device to recycle food scraps with the goal of reducing waste-hauling costs from the site.
The automated composter can process 20 kilograms of mixed organic materials, including meat products, per day. The accelerated decomposition happens via The Rocket’s internal heating unit, which controls temperature that promotes microbial activity. There’s also an automatic auger system so the composting materials do not have to be rotated manually.
Cost: The Rocket costs $30,000 but Metro Vancouver expects it will pay for itself within four to five years through waste hauling and landscaping savings.
Why: Metro Vancouver sees it as a first step in an “aggressive strategy” to meet its target for a total ban of organic waste from the landfill by
2015. Its goal is to achieve an overall 70 per cent composting and recycling rate by 2015, and an 80 per cent waste diversion rate by 2020. The current composting and recycling rate is 57 per cent.