Tuesday 4 May 2010

Community Notice - Food Scraps Recycling Program

Turn Your Food Scraps into Compost
If you currently receive the City yard trimmings collection service, you will now be able to add uncooked fruit and vegetable scraps, coffee grounds and filters, teabags, and eggshells into your yard trimmings cart for composting.


Why is the City of Vancouver starting this collection program? About 35 per cent of garbage from single-family residences is made up of compostable food scraps. By collecting food scraps, we can turn what was considered garbage intovaluable compost, cut down on greenhouse gases, and keep tonnes of organic material out of our landfill every year.

The food scraps collection program will roll-out in two phases.
In phase one, starting April 22, 2010, uncooked fruit and vegetable scraps, coffee grounds and filters, teabags, and eggshells will be allowed and collected bi-weekly as per your current yard trimmings collection schedule.

In phase two, in 2011, all food scraps (fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, dairy, bread, cereal products and food-soiled paper) will be allowed. It is expected that food scraps and yard trimmings will be collected weekly and garbage will be collected bi-weekly in order to minimize odours and insects from decomposing meat, fish and dairy scraps.


For further information visit http://vancouver.ca/projects/foodWaste/guide.htm