The Bradford property is part of the county’s organics collection pilot

Organics are a terrible thing to waste.

Simcoe County launched its 18-month multi-residential organics pilot program at the end of April, in which approximately 600 units in buildings across the region will participate by separating and disposing of their organics separately from trash. First announced by the county in October, there are 10 properties participating in the pilot: four in Collingwood, two in Wasaga Beach, one in Bradford West Gwillimbury, one in Tay Township, one in Midland and one in Ramara Township.

“There’s been a lot of interest in Collingwood,” said Laura Barrett, the county’s collections manager. “There are also a lot of condominium corporations in Collingwood and we wanted to make sure we had a variety of different locations.”

Each facility receives a green kitchen bin through the pilot, and county staff evaluates on a case-by-case basis the best way the county can collect organics, whether that’s through smaller trucks with on-site green bins, or on-site the floors of the apartment blocks. She said there are barriers that have prevented the program from rolling out so far, including different street sizes for private condominium corporations or how to collect from a high-rise apartment building.

“Every multi-residential property has a unique set of circumstances,” Barrett said. “There are so many different variables for each property that it takes a lot more time and effort to implement the program.”

“It’s not as easy as handing out carts to every unit.”

Lessons learned through the pilot will help inform how multi-residential organics collection could be feasible to implement in apartment and condominium buildings and homes in Simcoe County. The pilot program is expected to cost approximately $45,000 over 18 months and includes costs for promotional and educational content, audit bags and supplies, and organics collection from each location.

The county launched its existing organics collection in 2008 and is currently required to collect from all residential properties with five or fewer units. Last year, the county said it had reached 200,000 tons of diverted organics since the program first launched.

Under current legislative requirements, municipalities are not required to provide pick-up of organics in multi-dwelling properties. However, the province has released new guidelines for organic products through their Policy Statement on Food and Organic Waste, which was proposed in 2018. Under the statement, municipalities will be expected to achieve a 50% reduction in waste and a recovery of food resources and organic waste. generated in multi-unit residential buildings by 2025.

“Unfortunately, the province hasn’t moved forward with this … but if they want to make it happen, we’re going to have to help them,” Barrett said. “Whether or not the province decides to implement it or enforce it, we don’t know that yet. We want to divert as much organic matter from the landfill as possible.”

“This is a sector we haven’t touched yet.”

Barrett said the intent is for county staff to present recommendations from the pilot to Simcoe County Council in the spring of 2025, so if they choose to expand the program, existing properties will not be left with a gap in service.

“The idea is to get a full year’s worth of data and then bring the decision to the county board,” she said.

For more information on the county’s waste management strategy, click here.

— With files from Nikki Cole