Garibaldi Highlands is the testing zone for Squamish's first curbside yard waste collection.
Last Thursday (Aug. 2), the District of Squamish started its pilot project to pick up garden trimmings, as municipal staff analyzes the volumes it diverts from the municipal landfill.
Eventually, we want this program to [run] through the whole community, said Rod MacLeod, district solid waste project manager.
This spring, a consulting team did a study for the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District on composting throughout the Sea to Sky Corridor. The group sorted through both residential and commercial garbage to determine a ratio between the different types of waste.
Fifty-six per cent of residential waste was potentially compostable 38 per cent food, 12 per cent yard waste and five per cent clean lumber.
Our five-year plan called for us to do yard waste [throughout the community] next year, working toward food waste in 2016, MacLeod said.
The North Shore currently collects combined food and yard waste, which is the system the district is examining. Nanaimo has followed the North Shore's lead. In the next few months, district staff will likely visit those municipalities to see how it all works, MacLeod said.
The district is in the midst of a $4-million upgrade to its landfill. A Canada Gas Tax Fund Grant allows the district to build on-site pre-treatment and storage for more than 26 million litres of polluted water that is currently entering the environment each year.
To prolong the new landfill's lifespan, the district is placing an emphasis on waste diversion. Recently, asphalt shingles and Styrofoam were added to the list of recyclable materials at the landfill.
The asphalt, we are going to try to use on-site for road building, MacLeod said.
For more information on the district's yard waste collection service, visit www.squamish.ca.
This video was taken in February -
