Waste reduction initiative remains on track

Delivering a progress report last week to members of Westmount’s Healthy City Project, Marina Peter, the City’s environmental services coordinator, said Westmount will not be reaching all the goals set by Quebec in 1998 when the deadline arrives two years from now.

“We are very close to 2008 now and we realize that some of these will not be attained,� she said. While the Communauté Métropolitaine de Montréal and the City of Montreal have reviewed some of the waste management programs, others are still to be implemented.

“And so they have asked for a pushing back of the deadline to 2013 and even a bit further than that,� said Peter. The overall target the province has set for Quebec’s cities in its waste management plan is that they eventually divert 60 per cent of their solid waste from landfill sites into recycling.

With a diversion rate of 25.1 per cent in 2004, Westmount’s recycling success that year was outdone only by Beaconsfield. “I think we’re quite comfortable — we’re doing quite well — we are diverting quite a bit,� said former Public Works Director Fred Caluori. “We’re getting towards the 60 per cent, but we still have a ways to go.�

Westmount’s recycling programs include door-to-door residential recycling, recycling containers for the commercial sector, garden waste pickup, depots for organic materials and dry debris, and an e-waste depot for used electronics and batteries.

Although Westmount has one of the highest participation rates for household recycling — 92 per cent — the program is voluntary. However, some think an even higher level of participation could be achieved if recycling were mandatory. Caluori, who oversaw the implementation of Westmount’s recycling program during his 36 years service, said the City never felt it necessary to pass legislation making participation compulsory.

“All told it’s quite successful, but there’s still quite a bit of material that is in the garbage bag that can be recycled,� he said. “So we’ve got to be more aggressive. We have to target homes that don’t recycle … There’s still another 10 per cent that never participate.�

At homes where garbage is consistently put out, but not recycling bins, Caluori suggested that the City should start issuing notices asking that they participate. But if there’s no compliance in the end, he added, “at some point we might have to consider

legislation.�

With regards to Westmount’s current recycling program, Caluori said the City should send out revised notices and pamphlets to every household, stating what needs to be to recycled, how to do it, and that the targets must be met. “Because, believe me, everyone’s a bit of a culprit,� he said. “It’s easy to throw out certain things in the garbage bag. We have to make a bit of effort.�

Caluori also said Westmount will have no choice but to start picking up composting material door-to-door if the City is to reach its target. “We have to cut back our domestic garbage by half,� he said. “We will not achieve it simply by a bit of increase in recycling.�