The first year of source-separated waste collection in Edmonton saw significant room for improvement with an estimated 40 percent not properly sorted out of the garbage cart. Even with significant contamination, the city’s waste diversion rate rose to roughly 30 per cent, a steep increase from the 18 percent in 2020, but still short of the year’s 40 percent goal. Waste strategy director Jodi Goebel said the increase from last year can be directly contributed to the collection of organic waste separate from regular garbage.
Overall, the city collected 35,000 tonnes of source-separated organics in the green food carts and expects that to rise to 60,000 in 2022 with the program running all year across more than 250,000 homes. But Goebel said it is clear there is still room for improvement and the city will continue to focus on education and informing Edmontonians of what goes where to better separate waste from the black garbage cart.
Of the total 147,299 tonnes of waste collected, 88,524 tonnes was garbage, which the city said was a large reduction from years past. The city is hopeful diversion will continue to improve as residents become more familiar with the program. “The city can’t make the same positive impact on waste diversion through processing as 250,000 households can by properly sorting their waste,” Goebel said. “When residents take the time to separate their food scraps and yard waste, we can make sure it’s processed into beneficial products like electricity and compost.”