Simcoe County's waste collectors were out on Tuesday conducting a random audit of trash left at the curb.
It was garbage pickup day in Midland, where Rebecca Barnstaple and her kids have done their best to sort out what's garbage and what's recyclable.
“We probably have 60 or 70 per cent recycling – 40 per cent garbage and the our green bin is about half full,” she says.
Before the garbage truck came down the street, a small group of researchers conducting a garbage audit were out making notes about how much was put out on the curb, before picking up a few bags to be sifted through.
During the audit, researchers have picked up the garbage, recyclables and organics from 100 houses over a two week period and through four different seasons. They do this to get a better understanding of what is typically in this stream of waste pouring out of households in Simcoe County.
Every bag was carefully dissected then sorted into 90 different categories and weighed.
Previous audits have shown that a typical household puts out 570 kg of waste every year – about half of that is being recycled or composted instead of being buried in a landfill or shipped out of the region.
Wilma Bureau says the information coming from garbage audits will help improve waste diversion efforts in the county.
“As the composition of waste changes obviously our programs need to change. Perhaps our equipment needs to change, maybe we need to develop some facilities to manage that material,” Bureau says.
Paul van der Werf is the waste management consultant conducting the survey. He's found that there is less paper and glass being put out than there was 20 years ago. However, what really catches his attention is the volume of food that's in the garbage instead of the green organic bin.
“If we look at the waste stream or just the garbage stream it's not unusual to see 30 per cent food waste in the garbage stream and about half or two thirds of that would have been edible at one point.”
This was the last garbage audit for the year. Some of the interesting tidbits to come out of it will be included in the county's waste management calendar.
