Rolling to Reduce — New cart pilot project

The City of Pickering, Ontario, together with partners Durham Region, Miller Waste, the Town of Markham and CSR: Corporations Supporting Recycling, recently hosted a live demonstration of the city’s "Rolling to Reduce" pilot project. The three-stream, cart-based waste management initiative aims to achieve a 65 per cent diversion rate — a major increase from 27 per cent before the pilot was activated. Based on weekly averages since the project began on November 1, an additional 6,500 kilograms (or 14,326 lbs.) of material has been reduced or diverted from landfill.
The five-month pilot project will expand on the goals of the blue box program by including organics and increased recyclables. The project requires two wheeled carts: the Compostainer cart for organics provided by SSI Schaefer System International Ltd. and a split cart for recycling and garbage provided by Bonar.
The organics cart will be used to collect kitchen food scraps (including all meat and fish, dairy products, vegetables and fruits and coffee grounds) and yard trimmings (plants and leaves but no grass or branches). The split cart will be used for newspapers, corrugated boxes, glass bottles, tetra paks, all plastic bottles (but no motor oil jugs), aerosol cans and more.
Contact Stephen Brake at 905-420-4660, ext. 2064 or sbrake@city.pickering.on.ca.