Garbage sent to Saint John landfill drops 40% since new recycling program

The City of Saint John's new Waste Wise program resulted in 40 per cent of residential waste being diverted from the landfill, an early success for the program whose goal was to divert 15 per cent of waste.

"We're so happy in the fact that citizens are reducing their footprint in terms of how much garbage they're sending to the landfill," said Tim O'Reilly, the city's director of public works.

"That's just good for the environment. And it's meeting our financial targets for the project as well," he said.

In November, the city's landfill took on about 550 tonnes of waste. Before the program was implemented, the landfill saw an average of 920 tonnesevery month in the past three and a half years, O'Reilly said.

Some of the waste diversion about 16 per cent can be attributed to curbside recycling pickup, which is the main feature of the $3 million program.

"We're seeing a huge uptake in how much recycling people are putting out and diverting that from the garbage stream," O'Reilly said.

He said the limit on how much garbage people can bring to the curb is also helping divert waste, as it encourages people to recycle and compost to reduce their amount of garbage.

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The composting rate rose from 21 per cent of household waste before the program to 42 per cent during the first month.

Program is also cost-saver for city

The program's financial impact has also exceed the city's expectations.

When the city was setting its targets for the program, O'Reilly said they anticipated savings of about $200,000 per year on tipping fees, meaning the fee for using a landfill.

In the first month, they saved about $8,000 a week. If that keeps up for a year, it will turn into savings of around $400,000. The city spends about $1.3 million a year on tipping fees.

"We're still meeting the financial targets of the program, but exceeding the environmental targets," O'Reilly said.

Because of the cost savings it generates, O'Reilly said the program should pay for itself in about eight or nine years.

The city also earns revenue from the sale of bag tags, which can be purchased for two dollars a piece for excess garbage beyond what the program allows.

Those tags are sold through vendors like gas stations and convenience stores. The city has so far supplied vendors with 30,000 tags, but doesn't keep track of how many each vendor sells.

Enforcement of program has begun

When waste that doesn't meet the program's requirements is placed curbside, crews would tag it with a sticker explaining why it wasn't collected.

Because the program is so new, O'Reilly said the city hasn't kepttrack of how many stickers have been given out so far.

"Our educational efforts, including those warning stickers, we're all about helping our citizens become used to the program," he said.

Now that people have had time to get used to the program,the city is transitioning from an educational approach to a compliance and enforcement approach, O'Reilly said.

Under the Solid Waste By-law, people can be fined up to $2,100 for things like having garbage on the street outside of collection times.

According to a city news release, enforcement officers are "taking note of households that are not compliant."

O'Reilly said fines weren't given out during the educational period but enforcement began this week, though he couldn't say how many people have been fined.