The city of Beaconsfield, Quebec, has announced a new pilot project that aims to audit its collection of recyclable materials. The one-year project, which went into effect at the end of June 2016, is in line with the Waste Reduction Strategy adopted by the city in 2014.

In January 2016, the Canadian city equipped residential garbage bins with radio frequency identification (RFID) technology and started a pay-as-you-throw garbage pickup system. The city says the smart collection system based on the incentive tariff approach has "delivered results that continue to impress." Sustained involvement by citizens led to a 35% reduction in the waste sent to landfill sites between 2013 and 2015, and in the first four months of 2016, Beaconsfield says it had realized a further 26% decrease compared to the same period last year. The average household bin collection rate was below 50% for the first quarter, or the equivalent of once every two weeks.

The city of Beaconsfield says it wants to take this progress a step further. As a result of waste contaminating recyclable materials, the city will attempt to ensure the compliance and acceptability of materials sent to the material recycling facility (MRF). Specifically, the project aims to measure:

• how often the blue bins are put out for collection;
• the level of contamination of recycled materials;
• the greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) produced by the collection truck in relation to its use; and
• the potential savings available when the recycling collection contract comes up for renewal.

 The city emphasizes it has no plans of instituting an incentive tariff to citizens for the blue bin recycling collection.

"This exercise will enable us to identify the types of recyclables collected in order to ensure that the items thrown into the blue bin are recyclable materials and not waste," says Georges Bourelle, mayor of Beaconsfield. "With this project, the city wants to confirm that its residents have indeed improved their household routines since the implementation of the smart collection. It is vital that the recyclable materials sent to the recycling facility are in compliance and do not exceed the acceptable level of contamination. We also want to assess the GHG emissions associated with the automated collection in order to establish the city's GHG inventory."

He continues, "We are sincerely focused on making the best possible environmental management choices in the years ahead. The city of Beaconsfield is well on its way to setting the standard in this area, and the close collaboration of our citizens is showing that it is possible to work together to minimize our impact on the environment."

The city says the pilot project, which is priced at $103,000, will be carried out at a cost of approximately $10,000, thanks to the support of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities' Green Municipal Fund, Éco Entreprises Québec, NRJ Environnement and Lateral Innovations.

For more information about the city's Waste Reduction Strategy, click here.

  

» Publication Date: 19/07/2016

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