How much food do you throw in the garbage? According to Metro Vancouver, more than one third of the garbage we send to the landfill is food waste of some kind (referred to as 'food scraps' by those working in recycling and waste). This typically consists of expired food that we purchased but didn't use, plate scrapings, and food prep scraps such as fruit and vegetable peels. On the North Shore, a year's worth of food scraps collected curbside from all single-family homes weighs approximately 7,575 tonnes, which is as much as 47 SeaBuses or 1,263 orca whales.
While there is clearly an opportunity for all of us to reduce the amount of food we throw away, soon we will have a better option than sending the food scraps we do create to the landfill. Beginning the first week of May, North Shore residents will have the opportunity to include food scraps with yard trimmings for curbside collection. The North Shore Yard Trimmings Program is expanding to accept both food scraps and food soiled paper in the City of North Vancouver, District of North Vancouver and District of West Vancouver. The new program is called the Green Can Program and is available to all residences eligible for curbside garbage and yard trimmings collection.
"The Green Can Program is easy to use," says Emily Willobee, Engineering Outreach Coordinator with the District of West Vancouver. "Just collect all of your food scraps, including fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, bones and plate scrapings, in a kitchen container of your choice throughout the week. You can also include food-soiled papers, such as paper towels, napkins and pizza boxes. Empty your kitchen container into your green can as needed and place your green can curbside on the morning of your collection day."
"We only made 2.5 kilograms of garbage in 2 months and almost 50 kilograms of compost," Melanie Solheim reported to the North Shore Recycling Program (NSRP) in 2011 after her family separately weighed their compostables and garbage as part of a backyard composting study. This busy family of four from Lynn Valley put the majority of their food scraps into their backyard compost bin, which is the most cost-effective and environmentally friendly way to recycle fruit and vegetable scraps and yard trimmings. "The Green Can Program can be used for items which are difficult to compost safely in bear country, such as cooked plate scrapings, meat and dairy," suggested NSRP composting expert Amanda Vantol. "With the new Green Can Program those residents who compost will have the opportunity to put even less garbage at the curb every week," noted Allen Lynch, Manager of the NSRP. "Those who don't compost in their backyards will notice they take significantly less garbage to the curb. And backyard composting and the Green Can Program both help to minimize increases to garbage collection fees."
We all know that the North Shore is natural bear habitat. Although residents will simply be putting food scraps into the green can instead of the garbage can, we can minimize human-bear conflict by managing our garbage, green can and other bear attractants responsibly. Garbage, green can, fruit trees, bird-feeders, dirty barbeques, outdoor freezers and pet food left outside are all examples of items that may cause human-bear conflict. "By working with your neighbours to manage or remove bear attractants in your yards," advises Christine Miller of the North Shore Black Bear Society, "you will decrease the amount of non-natural food sources attracting bears to your neighbourhood."
One option for keeping your food scraps secure from wildlife during the week is to keep the more odorous food scraps, such as the meat, fish, bones, dairy and plate scrapings, inside until the morning of collection. I wanted to know how challenging it would be to keep odorous food scraps inside for a week, so I did an experiment to see how much my family of four would generate.
We filled one Bag to Earth small food waste bag with odorous food scraps, which I managed to find space for in our freezer. A re-used lidded plastic container lined with old newspaper kept in the fridge or freezer would also be an easy option. Many residents I've spoken to plan to keep their odorous food scraps inside their green can in their garage or shed - they'll have plenty of room there since there will be less garbage to store. Fruit and vegetable peels can be kept separate and stored in a kitchen container on the counter or under the sink for a week.
"I can't believe that my family of six only puts out one tiny bag of garbage each week!" exclaimed Jennifer Read, another participant in the NSRP 2011 backyard composting study. Using the Green Can Program, her family will put out even less garbage each week. And instead of taking up space in the landfill and creating greenhouse gases, food scraps from all North Shore residents will be turned into a valuable soil amendment for local gardeners, landscapers and farmers.
Learn more about the Green Can Program by visiting the North Shore Recycling Program and the North Shore Black Bear Society at the West Van Home Show.
For information visit greencan. northshorerecycling.ca and bearsmart.northshorerecycling.ca
