Green Bin &

Waste Diversion Programs for City of Toronto Residents

Solid Waste Management Services

City of Toronto

Presented by:

Sandra Zavaglia, Manager, Customer Service and Waste Diversion

Implementation; szavagl@toronto.ca

Nick Rossi, Project Lead, Customer Service & Waste Diversion Implementation;

nrossi@toronto.ca

• Background

• Green Bin Program

• Introduction • Participation • Collection & Processing

• Waste Diversion

• Tips for Success • Information Resources

• Questions

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Today’s Presentation

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Green Bin Program Population: 2.5 million

• 510,000 single-family homes; 500,000 apts., condos etc. (and

growing)

Quantity

• Single family 250 kg/hh-yr (~550 lb/hh-yr); Multi-family 75 kg/unit -

yr (~165 lb/unit-yr)

Current Tonnage

(Single-Family + commercial)

=> 110,000 MT/yr (~121,000 tons/yr)

Ultimate Tonnage

(include Multi-Family + schools etc.)

170-180,000 MT/yr (~198,000 tons/yr)

• Multi-unit buildings place more recyclable materials in the waste stream than they do in recycling bins

• Participation in the Green Bin Program will help increase the diversion rate and help lower Solid Waste collection fees

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Multi-Unit Recycling Today

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100,000

200,000

300,000

400,000

500,000

600,000

700,000

800,000

900,000

SingleFamily

Residential

Multi-UnitResidential

TotalResidential

66% 24%

52%

2012 Waste Diversion

Waste Diverted(tonnes)

Waste Collected(tonnes)

• All front end collection

buildings and curbside

buildings have been invited to

participate and are currently

being implemented

• There are over 2600 buildings

successfully participating in the

Green Bin Program

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Green Bin Program Rollout

• The Green Bin Program captures food & organic waste in a separate collection container

• Organics make up 48% (by weight) of waste that is generated

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The Green Bin Program

• The City provides one in-unit organic kitchen container per unit in Multi-Residential dwellings

• In-unit kitchen containers are delivered and distributed by the property manager/building staff to each unit

• Each container comes with a Green Bin Guide

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In-unit Organic Collection Container

aka “Kitchen Containers”

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Participation is Easy as 1-2-3!

Take out food packaging

(i.e. put bread in kitchen

container and bag in garbage)

1. The kitchen container is to be lined with a plastic bag

(no biodegradable bags)

2. The plastic bag is to be twisted or loosely tied (no twist

ties)

3. The residents will then bring the bag to the building’s

designated collection area

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Front End Collection

• Organic materials are collected weekly in front end containers (bulk bins)

• Residents will bring bag of organic materials to the designated collection area

• The entire bag and its contents to be placed into the container and the lid is to be closed

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Curbside Collection

• Organic materials are collected

weekly in 35 gallon green bins

• Residents will bring bag of organic

materials to the designated

collection area

• The entire bag and its contents to

be placed into the container and

the lid is to be closed

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What Goes In the Green Bin?

toronto.ca/recycle

• An introductory newsletter

and Green Bin Guide are

included with each kitchen

container

• Literature is available

online in various

languages

• Visit the City website at

toronto.ca/recycle

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Resident Teaching Aids

• Green Bins are collected by the City once-a-week

• Collected organic material is taken to the Organics Processing Facility

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Green Bin Program Collection and Processing

Disco Road Organics Processing Facility Completely enclosed, 4,000 m2 building

Biofiltration system for odour control

On-site wastewater treatment

Construction on old landfill site

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Disco Road Organics Processing Facility

Size (hectares); ~ 1 ha

Capacity; 75,000+ tonnes / yr SSO

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Collection

1

Pre-processing organic material

Aerobic composting

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Green Bin Program Processing

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Anaerobic digestion

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Finished compost

5 5

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Collection

1

• Organic material is dumped onto the tipping floor

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2

Pre-Processing Organic Material

Hydro-pulper Contaminant removal

• Organic material is mixed with water • This step removes plastic bags

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3

Anaerobic Digestion

• Anaerobic digester creates conditions for anaerobic bacteria to partially break down organic material

• Produces an organic solid material called digestate

Anaerobic Digester Digestate

• Digestate is taken to secondary processing facility where it is processed by aerobic composting

• This further breaks down the material into compost

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4

Aerobic Composting

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Finished Compost

• Finished compost is beneficial to soil, and good

for gardens and lawns

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Blue Bin Program - Recycling

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What goes in the Blue Bin

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NEW ITEMS added to Blue Bin

• City of Toronto is frequently adding new materials to the Blue Bin Recycling Program

• New materials include most food-related containers

and packaging such as: • Clamshell containers (e.g. berry and take out containers) • Molded bakery item trays • Disposable clear plastic plates and glasses • Egg cartons • Cold beverage cups/lids • Clear compact disc cases (empty)

Residents are encouraged to sort waste in all rooms in their

dwelling/unit

• Kitchen - food waste, plastic and glass food containers

• Bathroom - paper towel, toilet paper rolls, empty aerosol cans

• Living room - magazines, newspapers

Use in-unit recycling and organic kitchen containers provided by

the City of Toronto

Participate in all waste diversion programs offered by the building

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Maximizing Waste Diversion

E-Waste HHW Bulky/Durable

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Helpful Resources

• Green Bin and Blue Bin

information guides

• Recycling Calendar

• 3Rs Ambassador

• Presentations, tips,

downloadable posters,

program information

toronto.ca/recycle/multi

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3Rs Ambassador Volunteer Program

• Volunteer to become

an Ambassador for

your building

• Encourage 3Rs by:

• Creating lobby displays

• Putting up information

posters

• Organizing waste

diversion games and

activities

toronto.ca/3rs

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Waste Wizard

toronto.ca/recycle

Questions

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