Organic recycling starts in Toronto

On September 17, 2002, more than 10,000 homeowners in Etobicoke, Ontario started to use their new green bins for the city’s first curbside pickup of wet, organic household waste. Approximately 70 per cent of homes are involved in in a weekly recycling program that the city expects will divert 25,000 tonnes of organic waste from landfill.

The material will be composted at the new $10-million Dufferin Organics Processing Facility. The program will be extended next year to include 460,00 households in the Greater Toronto Area.

According to Geoff Rathbone, director of policy and planning in the city’s works department, the launch was a success. "The blue box didn’t start off as well," said Mr. Rathbone.