The City of Regina says its Green Cart Pilot Program has been very well received so far.
After one month of 2,800 randomly chosen households using green bins to collect food and yard waste, the residential diversion rate has increased to 51.7 percent.
Kurtis Doney, Director of Water, Waste, and Environment says these 2,800 homes will continue to pilot the green bins until the fall of next year.
“For the next year, the program will stay in the 2,800 homes,” said Doney. “It’s very important for us to do a pilot for all the different seasons in Regina, to see if there’s any tweaks or changes we need to make before we roll it out city-wide.”
The City says these early results show that when fully implemented green carts will substantially help move Regina closer to its goal of reducing landfill waste by 65 percent.
In a pre-pilot survey the City said 93 percent supported the pilot, and 84 percent support the use of a third cart specifically for food and yard waste.
Happy with the green cart pilot results so far! 💚 Almost 96 tonnes of food & yard waste collected- the weight of 96 moose! Participants have increased their diversion rate to 51.7%. Once implemented city-wide, green carts will help move us closer to our 65% goal. pic.twitter.com/AnL8aKWcUP
— City of Regina (@CityofRegina) November 18, 2020
Sorting has also proven to be successful with most of the material collected being food scraps such as meat and bones, dairy and grease. Yard waste, soiled paper towel and cardboard.
Doney says people have said it’s rather easy to make sure everything goes into the right bin.
“We’ve heard positive feedback from residents regarding the sorting of food and yard waste material,” said Doney. “We have a very low contamination rate in the first month because residents are following the information that’s provided and sorting the material between the green cart and the brown cart.”
Throughout the year the City will continue to monitor the pilot and work with participants to determine the best options for the city-wide Food and Yard Waste Service in 2023.
So far close to 96 tonnes of food and yard waste has been collected.
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