Markham tops 80% waste diversion rate
Markhamites, you did it.
During a special press conference today at Chelsea Park in Ward 4, it was announced Markham’s waste diversion rate has hit 80 per cent. “We owe a big thank you to the residents,” the city’s community and fire services commissioner, Brenda Librecz, said. “Only in Markham could this happen. This is a record setting rate of adoption.”
This spring, the city introduced its Best of the Best waste diversion plan with a goal of increasing the city’s landfill diversion rate to 80 per cent from 72 per cent.
The program called for residents to use clear plastic bags for garbage instead of dark green or black bags, which rolled out in late April.
The Best of the Best program also included a zero-waste plan for Markham schools, extending yard or leaf collection days and banning e-waste and batteries at curbside collections.
“We set a target and Markham achieved 80 per cent its 80 per cent diversion rate well ahead of time,” said Councillor Jack Heath, who is also the city’s waste diversion committee chairperson. “Soon, the word waste, as we know it, will not exist.”
Ward 4 was the first area in the city to reach 100 per cent compliance.
“Markham is a leader in waste diversion in Canada and North America,” Ward 4 Councillor Carolina Moretti said. “We can hold our heads high.”
The next step is to focus on more recycling opportunities such as textile, mattress and carpet recycling, the city’s waste and environmental senior manager, Claudia Marsales, said.
“We already are doing so much recycling with the new e-waste stream,” she said. “But there are new opportunities and new ways to recycle being introduced all the time. And we have to be ready to have those available for residents.”
Mr. Heath listed the initiatives taken that made Markham’s program a success.
They include clear bags on the shelves at local stores prior to the program rollout, providing residents with education material, taking a soft start approach and not delaying the launch date, preparing council for the pushback and looking at social responsibility after the start of the program.
Another important step to success was the “Thank you” stickers posted on green bins.
“Markham residents deserve a big thank you for working for our environment,” Mr. Heath said. “People were upset they didn’t get a ‘Thank you’ star. Markham is the best of the best in Canada, possibly North America and the world. Markham residents stepped up to the challenge as I knew they would.”
The challenge to zero waste has just begun.
The next steps would include looking at the whole waste picture, from manufacturing, packaging to curbside collection. It is at this point the federal and provincial governments need to step in, Mr. Heath said.
“Now, we have to start looking at waste as a whole system, packaging to what residents put on the curb,” he said. “Waste is one unit, everything from A to Z. At some point, everything we put on the curb should be recyclable. We’re not there yet.”
BY THE NUMBERS:
• 81 per cent – waste diversion rate was achieved in June through Markham’s clear garbage bag program;
• 35 per cent – waste diversion rate was reached in 1988 when Markham introduced the blue box system;
• 72 per cent – waste diversion rate was reached in 2005 when Markham introduced green bin weekly collection and biweekly garbage collection;
• 35 per cent – of the city’s waste in June was green bin organic waste, which amounts to more than 2,300 tonnes;
• 27 per cent – of the city’s waste in June was blue box recycling, amounting to more than 1,800 tonnes;
• 19 per cent – of the city’s waste in June was refuse or garbage, amounting to more than 1,200 tonnes;
• 16 per cent – of the city’s waste in June was yard waste, amounting to more than 1,000 tonnes;
• 3 per cent – of the city’s waste in June was collected from the various recycling depots, including e-waste and batteries, amounting to more than 170 tonnes;
• $11.2 million – worth of sold recyclables in 2011 was collected form blue bins from across the region.
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