Will your Neighborhood be Ready when Ontario bans Food Waste in Garbage Bags?

The Ontario government has notified residents and communities that it is considering a permanent ban on food waste in garbage bags in residential areas by 2022. If this does end up being the case, a positive will end up being significant increases in residential waste collection of organic materials designated for compost.

 Calls to outlaw food waste in home owners’ garbage bags has grown in intensity throughout the past decade by the province’s environmental movement. Though a commitment has not yet been made, discussions on how to accomplish this goal within 5 years is the closest we have come as a province to passing legislation on this matter.

 With any big sea change like this, there does come difficulties along with it. As an example, for many smaller communities living outside the larger metropolitan areas of the province, it is unclear how they would expand residential composting. Though there should be ongoing studies examining the merits of expanding composting programs, for many areas, these studies are not being done.

 There has been some debate on whether coffee grounds could be included in a composting program. Despite there being no cost efficient way to collect coffee grounds, if there was a means to do so, they could be included in a residential composting program expansion.

 A community like Sault Ste. Marie already has their plate full, completing a landfill assessment, studying the effects of disposal in the long run. For this City, a bio-solids facility is built and ready to compose organic material recycled from sewage derived via the appropriate plants. Though a great thing, this does not include coffee grounds and other materials that are still ending up in landfills.

 The seriousness that the Ontario government is approaching this matter with means that cities such as Sault Ste. Marie are going to have to push their budgets even further to accommodate a potential expansion.

 Waste disposal is another debate. If Ontario can successfully negotiate a banning of all food waste from being discarded via landfill or incineration, this has the potential to create hugely positive environmental effects. For one, the waste will be diverted away from misuse and emissions can be further reduced in the long-term.

 Recent waste collection studies have shown that organic waste makes up approximately 35 percent of Ontario’s total waste stream. When these materials are entered into a landfill, they produce methane once broken down. This is a gas 25 times worse than carbon dioxide.

 Cities like Sault Ste. Marie have no green bin program, only offering twice-weekly collection of yard waste which is then processed into composting. The City cancelled this bi-weekly collection in the last three months.

 For communities that are struggling with satisfying their budgets, any changes outlawing food waste in trash bags may be difficult to implement. This is not to say that a change like this should be stopped. It does beg to be studied further and communities such as the Sault Ste. Marie need to be considered when it comes to how such an initiative would be implemented.