Editor: Our local group, Canmore Organics Recycling (CORE), is writing to express our thanks to Canmore Town Council for its recent decision to implement a pilot project to divert organic waste from the landfill, starting this September, with five conveniently located food compost bins.
The article in the Rocky Mountain Outlook’s April 11, 2019 issue describes the project very well.
Some of the highlights from Council’s decision include: starting this fall, instead of sending all of our waste to a landfill near Camrose, residents will be able to separate out their organic waste.
As a result, significantly reduced residential waste loads will be transported to the Camrose landfill, which is quite far away and has a higher tipping rate.
Separated food waste, which accounts for approximately one third of our current residential waste, will be hauled to a much closer composting facility with a lower tipping rate.
The Town will save $32 in tipping fees for every tonne of organics that is sent to the composting facility, rather than to the landfill.
Our CORE group is especially happy that, due to the Town’s efforts, we will be closing the organic matter loop, since composted material from organics diversion will be used to create a soil-compost blend for use in regional food production and landscaping.
Canmore residents, by separating their food waste, will have a positive effect on reducing our town’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by one tonne for every tonne of organic waste that is composted rather than landfilled.
The decision by the Mayor and Council to begin the pilot program a year earlier, in collaboration with the Town of Banff, allows Canmore to move sooner towards achieving the Town’s waste diversion goals as part of its Environmental Sustainability Action Plan.
Lastly, we are pleased to learn that Town Council approved a budget for proactive education, which we anticipate will lead up to and follow the pilot project start, to ensure Canmore residents and the Town make its organics diversion efforts as successful as possible.
Cindy Kelly, Diana MacGibbon and Avni Soma on behalf of
CORE (Canmore Organics Recycling),
Canmore
