Surrey is doing its part to meet the ambitious waste diversion goals of Metro Vancouver. The regional authority is seeking to divert 70% of all household waste from landfills, made achievable through increases in recycling and composting. Waste is a major issue confroting Metro Vancouver, whose lease at the existing Cache Creek landfill ends shortly and has no short term plan to increase garbage capacity (although local incinerators are being proposed and touted by Chair of the Waste Committee and Surrey Councillor Marvin Hunt). And so, in an effort to reduce the demand for landfills or incinerators, waste diversion has been a primary objective for the semi-democratic Board.
Last year, the City introduced single-stream recycling, removing the need to separate newspapers and cardboards into their respective plastic bags. Now, in an effort to double compost rates, the City is planning to introduce an expanded organics pickup service and the Engineering Dept. wants your input!
Under the proposal, the City will pickup meats, vegetables, fats & bones, paper towels and other organic kitchen waste, in addition to your yard waste. It will be taken to a facility to be processed into biofuels or compost. Pickup options to be determined include the size and provision of the new waste receptacles, ranging from personal store bought bins with City-provided organic stickers (like the existing yard waste program), to a City-provided large outdoor bin and small indoor kitchen bucket.
Another option is to change all existing waste bin policies (garbage, recycling, and organics) to a City-wide, City-provided standard extra-large bin, which could speed up service as it would be designed to interface mechanically with the garbage trucks, requiring fewer workers. With the additional size of this new bin, the City proposes to reduce pickup to every two weeks.
All these options and more are currently up for debate. Provide your input to a City survey here.
