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Compostable Organics: What your Condo Board Needs to Know-5022

In the fall of 2016, the City of Calgary announced the implementation of an expanded recycling bylaw which will affect all multi-family residences in the city. This bylaw will require properties to have both recycling programs, as well as green bins for compostable organics collection systems as part of the waste collection infrastructure. With the rollout of this new mandate, there is going to be a significant increase in landfill tipping fees associated with garbage removal, making it even more important to get an effective recycling and compost collection program in place as soon as possible.

Mandate for Compostable Organics is almost here

This mandate is fast approaching so please be sure to add this subject to your agenda and get an installation date locked-in with your preferred service provider as soon as possible. It is imperative that we plan sufficient capacity to bring your building into compliance before the enforcement date.

The addition of organics collection will require some planning in order to execute properly.

Here’s what you need to know about Organic Waste:

  • Compostable organics will account for up to 40% (by weight) of all solid waste in a typical multi-family residence.
  • On average, a typical residence will generate 6 litres of organic waste volume, about 2.5-3 kgs of weight, every week.
  • Having a customized collection system for compostable organics is essential. Each space has unique restrictions which influence how a program is a setup. The very high weight-to-volume ratio and the need for bin mobility make it crucial for specialized infrastructure to be used. This ensures program safety, cleanliness, and ease of use.
  • Compostable organics do not necessarily cause strong odours. If set up properly, these programs will actually reduce the odour from your waste stream but this means using specially designed collection bins which allow for aeration, weekly (minimum) removal of materials, and use of compostable bin liners.   
  • Space concerns for placement of additional collection infrastructure can be overcome by reducing the capacity of your garbage collection system. Removing garbage bins, decreasing the size of bins being used, or changing the collection frequency may all need to be considered.  With a successful recycling and compostable organics collection system in place, garbage should only account for 25-35% of all waste output in any building/complex.     
  • To improve ease-of-use, we recommend that residents maintain an in-suite, under-counter collection bin for organics that they can use to contain materials while in their unit. Please ask about our Starter Kits for compost collection programs which include everything you need to get set up.
  • Composting is very important in order to capture the nutrient values from food waste so that they can be recycled into the food system.  Composting significantly decreases the negative impacts of solid waste programs in general.

Magnum York Property Managers work with Blu Planet Recycling and thanks them for this informational blog post.

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