Move would reduce waste and greenhouse gases

An expanded composting plan on offer to communities throughout Metro Vancouver has the potential to transform more than a quarter of the table scraps currently going to landfills into garden soil.

Richmond's Fraser Richmond Soil and Fibre Ltd. already converts most of Metro Vancouver's yard waste into soil and mulch products annually.

Now the company will also process food waste, including fruit and vegetable waste, coffee grounds, bones, meat and dairy products.

So far, only Port Coquitlam has a curbside compost program, but the offer is now open to all of Metro Vancouver on a first-come, first-served basis.

Marvin Hunt, chairman of Metro Vancouver's waste committee, says the more food scraps that are diverted from rotting in a landfill, the fewer the greenhouse gases that will be released.

Port Coquitlam started a curbside compost program in July 2008.

Each resident was given three bins: a black bin for solid waste, a blue bin for recyclables and a green bin for yard and food waste.

The system is simple, said Port Coquitlam Mayor Greg Moore.

The Moore family keeps a small ice cream container to collect daily food waste on the kitchen counter. They empty the container every day into the green bin at the side of the house, and never have a problem with odour.

"We put in all of our fruit skins, which includes lots of watermelon this time a year, tea bags, coffee grinds, lettuce, stuff like that," Moore said.

Since the program began, 500 tonnes of Port Coquitlam food waste has been diverted from landfills.

It's also saved the city money. It costs the city only $52 a ton to get rid of organic waste, as opposed to $71 for solid waste.

Vancouver is interested in curbside composting, said city spokeswoman Theresa Beers.

"Up until now, we didn't have a place where we could take it," said Beers.

Council will look at the idea this fall when the city's Greenest City Action Team submits its recommendations.

The Richmond composting company was able to boost the amount of waste it could compost by retrofitting the plant to speed the decomposition process.

Now it can process another 50,000 additional tonnes of food-waste on top of the 100,000 tonnes it already handles.

But even with the increased diversion, more than 180,000 tonnes of organic waste currently ends up in landfills each year.

rtebrake@vancouversun.com