North Cowichan's Kitchen Pitch-In program wastes no time in reducing trash load
North Cowichanians have wasted no time reducing their municipal trash load by 108 tonnes since kitchen-organics collection started, staff says.
"Since the Kitchen Pitch-In Curbside Collection Program began around May 1, residents used their green bins to divert 108 tonnes of food and kitchen waste and reduced their average household garbage by 48%," staff says in a press release Monday.
Instead of shipping that greasy garbage to a U.S. landfill — and generating methane, a potent greenhouse gas — collected kitchen organics are transformed into compost at Nanaimo's ICC Group Duke Point composting facility.
Council figures it can save about $30,000 in annual tipping charges, as part of the region's $3-million trash shipping fee, by pulling stuff such as bones, oily pizza boxes, animal skins, fruit and vegetable peelings, and more from the waste stream.
Green bins, kitchen containers and start-up kits were distributed in April to some 9,200 households, explained program head Sarah Richardson.
All single-family homes in North Cowichan are now receiving weekly curbside food-waste collection.
Folks generating more than one green-bin’s worth of kitchen organics each week can purchase additional bins at Canadian Tire, Home Depot, or Rona.
They must attach an extra garbage sticker to the additional green bin for it to be collected at the curb on their scheduled collection day, she said.
Items banned from green bins include plastics, Styrofoam, metal, and glass.
For more information, contact 250-746-3201.
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