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Bring us your chicken bones and your pizza leftovers. Vancouver yard-trimmings carts will now take all biodegradable material

September 10th, 2012 · 45 Comments

It will be officially announced tomorrow, but after more than a year of testing out organics recycling in a couple of neighbourhoods in Vancouver, the city is now going to move forward to phase 2 — letting everyone start dumping all food products in their yard trimmings bin.

Here’s an explanation of what is allowed in the yard trimmings/organic waste carts in the pilot neighbourhoods (Sunset, Riley Park), which will now be what we can all do.

Here’s my blog post from April when I did an early story about the success rates in the pilot program, showing that the city was getting a 50-per-cent recycling rate — considered good by the standards of many cities.

The one thing still to come in the organics recycling is a change in garbage pick-up. For now, the pick-up will remain as is: yard bins every second week, regular garbage every week. At some point (once the new trucks and carts arrive), it will reverse.

That will be the true test. People who continue to throw food scraps in regular garbage will find it gets kinda smelly kinda fast. Other municipalities doing this already have found they end up with some cranky residents who don’t want to get with the program and don’t like running mini-rendering plants out in their garbage cans in the lane.

Will Vancouver be different? We are sooo green, aren’t we? We’ll see.

 

Categories: Uncategorized

  • teririch

    I am very supportive of recycling and keeping as much out of the land fills as possible.

    But, I am going to share a little ‘story’ with you about and issue that came up from food scrapping.

    I live in an apartment building and right next door is a restaurant.

    They do food scrapping – a food bin oustide by their dumpsters.

    About 3 – 4 weeks ago now, I leave to work going out our back entrance way and down the alley. As I pass the ‘restaurant side of things’ I see all these squirmy things – I am looking and they are maggots.

    Within 2 days, they had gotten in under our back door jam. (Older buidling and settling so there is a small gap) I came down that morning to head to work and there were 1,000’s of these creatures in the hall leading to our back entrance way and car park. One of the strata council members was coming in from the parkade and was totally freaked out. We put up signs and taped the door so no one could exit/enter until an exterminator came in.
    That was the first incident. A few days later, there were maybe 100 or so in the same place but when you went outide, again, there were 1,000’s.
    About a week later, I head down to do laundry, open that door and wow….

    So, after 6 visits from the exterminator (so far) we seem to have cleared up the issue. 20 years in the building and this was a first (and hoping a last)

    The restuarant next door – no longer food scrapping.

    And if you see how far these things had to wiggle to get to our back door, you would be quite surprised. It is not a short distance. Odd, not even the crows would eat them.

    And yes, I have the pictures!

  • Agustin

    Excellent news!

  • David

    Food scraps sitting around for 2 weeks is bad regardless of the colour of the lid.

    Putting even more food scraps in the bin isn’t going to work for me and I could use a practical solution:

    – in winter I have no yard trimmings so the food goes in by itself and creates a “lovely” rotting mess in the bottom of the bin.
    – during yard trimming season I frequently have to stop mowing/trimming/etc. when I run out of space for it all.

    That means I’ve filled my large yard trimmings bin, jumped on the contents, re-filled the bin, jumped on them again to make room for our kitchen waste, then filled 4 standard garbage cans (all of them jumped on to maximize the load).

    The only trucks I’ve seen in my neighbourhood are the ones that grab the wheeled bins. My wife and I have never seen a truck here that would even be capable of picking up those special paper bags during “unlimited leaf collection” periods. I’m forced to troll the neighbourhood looking for bins that haven’t been completely filled, usually without much success. Having a carport full of yard trimmings is pretty much a permanent sign of good weather at my place.

  • boohoo

    Pick up greens/organics/recycling every week and garbage every 2 weeks and you’re onto something.

  • westygrrl

    I think this is great news. We’ve been putting all organic waste (save for protein/wheat/dairy) into the green bin along with yard waste for a long time now, and biweekly pick-ups are just not enough. News of weekly green bin & recycling pick-ups is very welcome. Any ETA on that front?

    Our garbage is less than 1/2 full most weeks, and that’s with a family of four and a basement suite.

  • Glissando Remmy

    Thought of The Day

    “I get it! The chicken bones are keepsakes for the ceremonial Vision’s Voodoo meetings, but what’s with the Pizza leftovers Paisano!?”

    Tell me if I’m wrong…

    Chicken coops… good for bringing together the domestic cats, dogs, hamsters… and the wildlife, racoons, skunks, coyotes, why not, foxes.
    BIODIVERSITY

    Beehives on green roofs… good for bringing together little kids with little feet and little hands to the ER with little adverse reactions to bee stings.
    ADAPTATION

    Wheat on every median , street and back-alley… good for keeping healthy and well fed of at least half a dozen families of mice, also keeping the neighborhood tomcats in tip-top shape.
    MITIGATION

    Bones, leftovers, ahem, organic leftover food… good for bringing the rats together. I can see the street parties, the patios full of laughter, and the smells, yes the smells, that indistinguishable smell of rotten food scraps. Ah, the good life!
    SUSTAINABILITY

    And all this, following a few simple lessons in symbolism, on a few easy grants sponsored by taxpayers, and why not?
    Green jobs come in all colors!

    CATASTROPHIC Climate Change; IRREVERSIBLE Global Warming & Carbon TAX on YOUR Footprint… are next on the City’s ICLEI … Agenda 21.

    Till then, and hoping that the melting Arctic, won’t affect the BC’s Salmon Run…

    We live in Vancouver and this keeps us busy.

  • Morry

    Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones.
    Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones.
    Dem bones, dem bones, dem dry bones.
    Now hear the word of the Lord.

  • David

    I don’t find it a big deal… Line a container with newspaper. My question, does the mice the cat brings home count as “food waste”?

  • West End Neighbourhood Food Network

    Here is news on food scraps composting for apartments and multi-unit buildings. The City is focusing now on single family households, but the thousands who live in multi-unit buildings are not yet covered. Four volunteer-driven “Food Scraps Drop Spots” are testing a different model — of using local drop-off points. http://foodscrapsdropspot.tumblr.com/ Locations include West End, Olympic Village and Trout Lake. In the past year, over 20 tonnes of organic waste have been diverted from landfill by these pilot projects. Their experiences are valuable, as organic waste is banned from the waste stream starting in 2015.

  • Sean Nelson

    We’ve been composting everything except bones, so we only end up putting our garbage bin out once every 4-6 weeks anyway. We throw the bones into a plastic bag in the freezer until garbage day, so there isn’t any smell or mess to deal with.

    So I guess this just means the bones are going into the yard bin instead of the garbage bin. I have a feeling we’ll be hoarding our bones until spring since there isn’t anything else to put into the yard bin during the winter and it seems silly to put it out for a trifling few bones.

    The composters available from the City are amazing – we just keep throwing stuff into them and they never seem to fill up.

  • Silly Season

    Sorry, off topic. But important.

    FYI Vancouver Sun Switches to New Commenting System

    Well, someone had to go first…

    http://www.vancouversun.com/technology/Note+readers+commenting+system/7220051/story.html

  • Paolo

    You may find this interesting:

    The reality is there is nothing with the current system of leaving food scraps in garbage to go to the land fill since it becomes a resource for future generations. The Vancouver landfill in Burns Bog collects gas from decomposing garbage (methane) and uses it to produce
    electricity to provide the total energy requirements of 3,000 to 4,000 homes! I bet if one analyzed “carbon emissions” it will be better to landfill it all and use the methane rather than compost and let it just go into the atmosphere, which is what will happen with green cans. Indeed, food waste is necessary in regular garbage to assists other non-food waste to biodegrade! Where is the Metro Vancouver
    analysis of the green can program and its benefits? Where is the evidence? There is NONE!

    The beneficiary from the green scraps movement is American Big Business and the Metro Vancouver bureaucrats that help them.

    In Metro Vancouver, all the yard waste such as leaf cuttings goes to a company called Fraser Richmond Soil and Fiber who then compost it and sells the topsoil to landscapers and so on. Two years ago, this locally owned company was bought out by a large private American company called Harvest Power with very connected directors including people from Wall Street based Goldman Sachs. Harvest Power is actually owned by leveraged buyout firm Kleiner Perkins, Al Gore’s personal
    investment company, and Waste Management Inc. All of these owners are very wealthy Americans who will make Billions when Harvest Power eventually goes public.

    Subsequent to the purchase of Fraser Richmond Soil and Fiber by Harvest Power, I noticed a movement in most of the municipalities in
    Metro Vancouver to “lead the way” by reducing garbage and claiming falsely that our landfills are “full”. Of course, the company that
    benefits from this business is American owned Harvest Power who will get paid to pick up the food scraps, compost it, and then get to sell
    the compost back to us. All under the guise of saving money and protecting the environment. In realty, this will cost us more money down the road (higher fees and/or reduced regular garbage pick-up) while doing nothing to help the environment.

    What a business model these American leveraged buyout firms have! Buy a company cheap and then use political connections to legislate business for it. Of course, these political connections a few years from now will all go to work for Harvest Power.

    This decision to collect food scraps is not based on logic or what is best for the environment. Collecting food scraps is based on politics,
    big business and shady dealings. I may also add food scrap collection “smells” similar to the smart meter fiasco of BC Hydro.

    I have been trying for a year to get a journalist with clout to expose this scam for what it is, a shaft of taxpayers, but the feel good nature of food scrap collection and perhaps fear of Big American Business is scaring them off.

  • Agustin

    @ Silly Season: it looks like others in the Postmedia group are doing the same. I can see the benefits, but as someone without a Facebook account, I can also see the detriments!

  • David

    @Sean Nelson

    How do compost bins cope with wildlife? In the immediate vicinity we have two resident racoon families, a skunk family, some rats and enough squirrels to feed every coyote in Vancouver.

  • David

    @Silly Season:
    I have a Facebook account, but I don’t want them tracking my every move outside their site.

    Message to websites everywhere: the moment you require my Facebook ID you’ve kissed my eyeballs and wallet goodbye.

  • Warren

    This is great, but why is it that I still can’t recycle milk cartons and tetra-paks?

  • Dan Cooper

    @ David.

    My small-to-medium-sized strata has a compost bin and we’ve never had a problem with animals getting into it, even when someone knocked the top part askew so there was a clear gap for any critter that wanted to go for it. Also, in line with Sean Nelson’s comment, in the four or five years we’ve had it I’ve only had to empty it once. I did find, at that point, that while the “biodegradable” plastic bags sold to hold compost do indeed fall apart, it takes them several times longer to do so than anything else in the bin (so they have to be separated out and thrown away anyway, only with far more mess and trouble). Happily, the one couple that was using them has moved, so no more problem. Also, egg shells apparently don’t break down in the bin, though they eventually do once the compost is spread in the flower beds. Hoorah for…erosion?!

  • Dan Cooper

    Oh, and David, I second your Facebook ID comment!

  • gman

    Recycle Bin…….ya I heard of those guys….http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di4kVaIdB-w&feature=related

  • Glissando Remmy

    Thought of The Night

    “I have noticed a disturbing trend. With each passing school year, my children are more convinced that humans and technology are bad for the planet… while teachers are helping to insure a “greener” future. I do not think they understand that my children may infer a condemnation of humanity.”

    – letter from a concerned parent to the New York Times, after dealing with the fallout of one too many “Earth Days” … Oct. 1989

    Thank God that parents in Vancouver/ BC didn’t have to worry about that for one full scholar year as the teachers & BCTF were “on leave”, and who knows, they might still until next year’s Provincial election when their newly anointed NDP buoys, will take a good look at their “Trial” collective agreement and do some sensible modifications, here and there.

    Now don’t start jumping up and down just yet, us Vancouverites were not that lucky during that said time, we had Vision Vancouver taking care of business.

    After pushing for separated bike lanes, parking fees increases, advocating for an oppressive, immoral Carbon Tax, an “in your face” war on cars campaign, now it’s the bread crumbs, chicken bones and pizza leftovers time.

    Not long ago they lifted a Richmond idea, and photo-opted it in a beach setting, a Binners Paradise, Ladies and Gents… The Gregor gave us the (insert drum rolls here…) Selective/ Green colored/ See Through ‘Bin We Can” Bottle/ Garbage sorting, Recycling Bins Extraordinaire!

    One thing though. No one, I repeat, no one presented us, the taxpayers, a Costs vs Benefits analysis, after all the City is supposed to be run like a business, right?
    Green or not, bottom line is… the directors of a Corporation are liable to its shareholders/ taxpayers, am I right?
    Generally speaking, what I’m saying is:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaiSHcHM0PA

    I would very much like to hear from an independent Auditor looking into how healthy the City’s finances really are…

    Anyhoo.
    Paolo #12. Well said. FWIW that’s required reading folks, but as per Royal Society’s motto “Nullius in Verba” (Take nobody’s word for it), not that they cared much for their own motto anyways, as it is clearly shown hereafter:

    “The next IPCC report should give people the final push that they need to take action and we cannot have people trying to undermine it.”
    – from Sept. 2006 statement by Royal Society of London demanding that those who disagree with them… stop.

    Nuff said.

    We live in Vancouver and this keeps us busy.

    PS.
    gman #19
    … those boys. What language is that? Reminded me of a very young Hard Rock punk group Kiss.

  • Sean Nelson

    @David #14: “How do compost bins cope with wildlife?”

    Well I haven’t seen any rats around here, thank goodness, but we have our fair share of racoons and squirrels and I have seen the odd skunk. The bins we bought through the City are well designed with tight-fitting tops that attach with a kind of bayonet (attach and turn) action and we haven’t had any problems with animals getting into them. They even have a plastic bottom to prevent access via burrowing, and come with spiral stakes that you twist into the ground to anchor them so that they can’t be tipped over.

  • Sean Nelson

    @David #15: “Message to websites everywhere: the moment you require my Facebook ID you’ve kissed my eyeballs and wallet goodbye.”

    I’m in 100% agreement with you. Facebook is using gimmicks like this to worm their way into too many sites on the web. Every site that has that little “f” logo tracks you if you have a facebook acount, and now the Vancouver Sun has joined their ranks. Within a few weeks of starting to charge for certain content, no less.

    And as if tracking your web movements wasn’t enough, software has been created to look at the date-stamped and geo-tagged photos you post to your Facebook account to figure out where you’ve been in real life, too! Including where you live.

    Heaven help you if you post photos while you’re on vacation. When the bad guys know you’re in Europe it’s open season on home burglaries.

    Nope – not for me, thanks.

  • Westender1

    Does anyone know if there was a Report to Council or a council resolution on the expansion of organics recycling? I can find a report on the two neighbourhood pilot program but not the expansion City-wide. The pilot was anticipated to cost $380,000 – but it’s not clear what it actually cost, or what costs are anticipated with the City-wide program. I’m assuming this type of information would have been reviewed and approved by Council prior to the announcement by Mayor Robertson?

  • gman

    Glissy @ 20
    They are from Bucharest Romania.Not exactly easy listening music but they have a catchy name,not to be confused with the other band of the same name out of Estonia.

  • Bill

    There was an item in the Vancouver Sun recently that talked about the mountain of undifferentiated glass and plastic that has accumulated in Calgary since they implemented their blue box system as there is no market for the material. Could the same thing happen with the composted material here?

    From a marketing study for Metro Vancouver
    http://www.metrovancouver.org/services/solidwaste/planning/Documents/RecyclingMarketStudyReport.pdf

    “The market for compost in the region is considered moderate and some interviewees are concerned it will weaken as more material enters the marketplace. While more can be done to promote compost use, it is generally recognized as having value for long-term soil building by adding nutrients, reducing run off, retaining moisture, and enhancing disease resistance. However, the region has a relatively limited land base limited by geography with an increase in intensive farming and a growing population. There is a resulting overabundance of nutrients in the form of agricultural manures, biosolids, as well as food scraps and yard trimmings that adds a layer of complexity to organics management in the region.”

  • West End Gal

    Glisando # 20
    great quote
    ““I have noticed a disturbing trend. With each passing school year, my children are more convinced that humans and technology are bad for the planet… while teachers are helping to insure a “greener” future. I do not think they understand that my children may infer a condemnation of humanity.”
    I feel just the same. Only in our case we have to deal with a Vision majority municipal government whose roots were rooted deep in the Tide Foundation, Endswell, Hollyhock all the “good green $$$$” things!
    more terrifying than any earthquake is the fact that some of them think they are fit for the Legislature. Didn’t they have a failed MLA already?
    Scary.
    As for the Vancouver Sun’s love for facebook, I agree with all , they can kiss my account GOOD BYE!

  • gman

    I predict the sale of garburators in Vancouver to skyrocket and I further predict that the cost of sewer maintenance to also necessarily skyrocket.Here are a few helpful tips to help you in the near future. http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xldpiy_plumber-in-vancouver-gives-you-three-garburator-tips_news

  • Mira

    Recycling is apparently more important for the green radicals installed at the City Hall. Screw the Vancouver kids, their families, seniors as ALL FEES for most community centers went up Sept. 1st, parking fees up, select programs… cut, anyone remembers that Stanley Park once (two years ago in fact) had a children petting zoo?
    Symbolic actions squeezed in, and disguised as measures for reducing… what exactly?
    … our overall enjoyment of this city at rates that most of us could afford. Not anymore.
    All the money that were once used for different programs that everyone could be part of, was redirected towards Vision’s pet projects, high on the list of the “connected” environmentalists.
    I would laugh if I could, but it’s too sad these phonies have taken over a real nice city, at least a city that was doing just fine till they came to town down from their remote caves of Cortes.
    This was not an accident …
    (READ)
    http://archive.citycaucus.com/2010/06/joel-solomons-500-year-vision-for-vision
    , this was a deliberate act of sabotage. Of our ways of living making our lives easier for them to control through a new sets of rules, regulations, bylaws… all for “our own good” and making us poorer in the process.
    Are we Vancouverites so easy to con? Really?
    🙁

  • Bill

    @gman #27

    From the mayor’s announcement:

    “green bins should be used instead of sink garburators,”

    How long do you think it will be before garburators are banned?

  • Joe Just Joe

    Probably not very long, garburators are already banned in some places, not because of energy consumption but because of the strain it places on sewage plants. I imagine they will go the way of wood burning and now gas burning fireplaces within the decade.

  • gman

    Bill I think a guy should go pick a couple up right now,I’m going to keep mine with my stash of lightbulbs.Hope my neighbor doesn’t rat me out.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NxTNZUhesZk

  • Chris Keam

    Milk cartons and tetra-paks can be recycled but you will have to take them to a recycling depot.

    http://www.return-it.ca/beverage/products/

  • waltyss

    @Chris Keam
    While you can take milk cartons to return depots, you can also return them in your blue box. |I am less sure about tetra packs but I have never had any problem with them taking either, while styrofoam is removed and left.
    I know they don’t take styrofoam but have never figured out why.

  • Chris Keam

    “City recycling collection crews do not pick up waxed beverage cartons, or drink boxes. ”

    http://vancouver.ca/home-property-development/return-drink-containers.aspx

    If you’re putting them in your blue box and they’re not there later, my guess is it’s probably a binner (the unsung heroes of urban waste mgmt) picking them out for their cash value as a recyclable.

  • Chris Keam

    Although milk cartons have no cash value, so the binners likely aren’t bothering with them. They are probably just being separated and sent to the landfill or an incinerator during the sorting process. Sadly, if you putting milk cartons in your blue box it just means additional work during sorting and added expense for waste management. Although it probably isn’t on the scale of dog waste.

    http://www.vancouversun.com/Metro+Vancouver+regional+park+waste+proving+messy+issue/6747540/story.html

  • teririch

    @gman #31

    LOL! I have my stash of lightbulbs as well….

    After having 2 of the CLF’s ‘popping’ and secreating a gas of sorts, I was done with them.

  • Dan

    Crazy how much you all have to say about compost bins.
    If you have backyard composting, great! Wildlife issue is pretty much non existent. tens of thousands of us have backyard compost bins and this hasn’t places our city under siege from magots, rats, skunks… For those complaining about the mice and insects, here’s some news: the city–despite our best efforts–is part of the natural world and several animals have learned to adapt to our urban environments.

    I understand that the yard trimmings bin has sometimes just a litre of compostable material in it…This does not mean the bin is unusable though. Even if there is rotten stuff in the bottom, thats the whole idea of a compost and if it smells….try keeping it outside?

  • Everyman

    @teririch 36
    LED bulbs are a far better choice than CFLs. Maybe the government should use carbon tax money to bring the cost of them down.

  • Mira

    Everyman #38
    … maybe the government should not impose this kind of racket on us… this is what I’m saying!
    Let me decide if I want a incandescent bulb, CFL or LED. Let the marketplace offer it and let it play. Anyway we cannot even put a dent in what’s happening with … the planet! :-)..

  • waltyss

    Ah, Mira:
    You can buy an incandescent bulb if you want to and pay higher electricity rates, carbon taxes and the like. Your actions have an effect on the rest of us and the balance is found by imposing taxes like the carbon tax to make your wasteful ways less attractive. That is the market.
    Most people support this “racket” as you call it. However, Alabama and Mississippi probably don’t have carbon tax, probably have fewer people that you find disgusting (or whatever insulting adjective you are on about Vancouverites today) and have more than their share of people who share your odious beliefs. I urge you again to consider moving.☺

  • Ned

    I wanted to bring the following to your attention:
    Please read the posts at #38 #39 #40 !
    TWO of them are Benign messages and ONE is a Malign message.
    Even when seen from the Moon.
    You be the judge!
    I have already saved all three of them in exact order, he, he, … just in case Frances “cleans up” the “evidence” like before, as I suspect that her rule of thumb is “Vision pals must always project a kosher image”. Done.

  • waltyss

    Ned, are you upset that some of your nastier quotes got removed. They must have been pretty bad.
    Truth is a funny thing. Your buddy Mira hates most Vancouverites, and certainly those who are non white, and feels that she should be able to continue her wasteful ways. All true. What is wrong with suggesting she consider moving to somewhere where she could do what she wants and the people are more to her liking?

  • Terry M

    LMAO!
    Is Vision Vancouver dominatrix keeping Waltyss in a dungeon and releases him only during the weekends?
    No need to answer. .. That was rethorical !

  • bertie wooster

    i live in san francisco, where we have mandatory composting. we compost virtually every organic material, egg cartons, pizza boxes, everything. it all goes. pick up is once a week, and our building of 16 units has two largish containers that never get full to the top. before it was mandated, people across the united states were ridiculing the city and even in sf, people were skeptical about odors, vermin, and plain extra effort. but really, it’s as easy as can be, with weekly use of a 20 cent biodegrabable plastic bag being the only extra expense. virtually nobody in san francisco is against composting now and even the unilingual chinese types follow the regime (and that annoyingly self-centered and conservative element really throws its homeowning weight around).

    go for it, vancouver! you can do it, don’t be outdone by san francisco!

  • Westender1

    Well that answers the question of why I couldn’t find information about this on the City’s website – Council won’t consider this issue until the middle of October (see below text of email from City’s “info,” staff). I would take greater comfort in the City’s operations if they proceeded on the basis of Council resolutions rather than what appear to be photo opportunities. And it’s surprising to me that no media outlet I came across questioned the “approval” of the new program or sought the details of a staff report.

    “Thank you for contacting the City of Vancouver. The expanded food scraps program had a soft pilot launch on September 11th, however Mayor and Council have not yet approved the expanded program. Mayor and Council will vote on the expanded food scraps program on October 16th. Unfortunately we have limited information until the outcome of the meeting, but you are welcome to contact us again after that day if you have any questions on the outcome.

    You will also be able to view the agenda (usually posted a week before the meeting), as well as the meeting minutes the day after the meeting. You may find further information at the following link:

    http://vancouver.ca/your-government/city-council-meetings-and-decisions.aspx