As majority of Hamilton's household waste still goes to landfill, city says there's hope in composting
CBC
Over half the waste Hamilton households put on the curb is destined for the landfill, despite many residents having years of practice sorting plastics and paper products and discarding food scraps in blue and green bins.
In 2023, only 43.5 per cent of waste was diverted through recycling or composting — a rate that's never surpassed 50 per cent in two decades, said Angela Storey, the city's waste management director.
"It's not really that great of a number," said Storey.
Other municipalities have higher rates, with Halton and Guelph, for example, both sitting around 60 per cent. York Region reports diverting over 90 per cent of waste from the landfill year after year.
Diverting waste from the landfill has been a challenge for Hamilton for years, Storey said, with residents needing to follow strict and sometimes changing rules about what is and isn't allowed in blue and green bins and what's considered yard waste.
One unemptied jar of pickle juice placed in the wrong blue bin, for example, has the potential to break and contaminate a bunch of paper that could otherwise be recycled, she said.
Glass discarded in green bins has the same effect on otherwise compostable waste, said project manager Dong Deng.
Watch: Inside Hamilton's recycling and composting facilities
About 20 years ago, the city set the "lofty" goal of diverting 65 per cent from the landfill, but later adjusted it to simply improve year over year, Storey said. There's a limit on city resources and sorting waste capabilities, as well.
"We've learned to try to do things small steps at a time and it's likely more achievable," she said.
Since then, the diversion rate has mostly stayed between 40 and 50 per cent, city data indicates.
But there's hope, Storey said. It lies in the household green bin.
About 31 per cent of household waste is composted in Hamilton, according to 2021 estimates, leaving room for improvement.
"While we're having success, if we were to study a garbage bag at the curb, there's still a lot of organic material, food waste, in that garbage," Storey said.
While his party has made a cause célèbre out of its battle with the Speaker, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has periodically waxed poetic about the House of Commons — suggesting that its green upholstery is meant to symbolize the fields of the English countryside where commoners met centuries ago before the signing of the Magna Carta.