A recent report indicates the county diverts from landfill about 39 per cent of Wellington’s residential waste – ranking it 66th in the province.
The report from Waste Diversion Ontario (WDO) is based on information compiled from 230 municipalities across the province for 2012. Guelph took top spot with a conversion rate of 67.72%.
However, county councillor Don McKay, head of the solid waste services committee, said the figures don’t compare “oranges to oranges.”
According to McKay, who congratulated the city on its top spot, the county and city are in different categories in the overall scoring. McKay said Guelph is ranked as a “medium urban” centre in the total WDO ranking, while the county is grouped as “rural.”
“In a rural area it’s quite spread out,” he said compared to recycling in an urban setting.
In the area of organics, McKay said rural residents often put their organics in compost bins at their homes or farms as an alternative to putting them in regular garbage bags. The county does not do curbside pickup of organics such as leaves. With Guelph picking up organics curbside, the diversion numbers change, McKay noted.
He also said the county has several landfill and transfer stations, while Guelph has none, and county residents have limited options when it comes to removal of organic material and other recyclables.
“I’m still very proud of what we do in Wellington County on waste diversion,” McKay added. “I would like to see it up to 60% definitely.”
Cathy Wiebe, administrative supervisor of the county’s solid waste services division, said it is difficult to determine how much the county spends on waste diversion because it is part of the overall waste management budget.
The county, according to Wiebe, is anticipating $1.7 million in revenues from recycled items collected last year.
“For 2013, we budgeted just over $1.7 million in revenues for the materials we divert in the county,” she said in an email. “Those materials include blue box materials, scrap metal, electronics, household hazardous waste, and tires. The revenue comes from the sale of those materials and/or funding from the industry funding.”
Wiebe added, “As far as what it costs us to divert waste, unfortunately that number just isn’t readily available as our accounts are set up as an integrated waste system. As such, it isn’t an easy task to break out the costs to manage garbage versus other materials.”
McKay said information on waste diversion for residents of the county is contained in the waste services annual calendar, on the county website and in advertising. The county also offers a “gold box” award for top recyclers.
“What we’re trying to do is educate people,” he said.
