People need to be educated to separate their garbage
Mr. Shamess's department is ll working with the region's apartment-owner and condo- owner associations to' get the message out. Staff are also offering to provide private haulers with the little green bins for people's counters and offering flexibility so that haulers can pick up multiple times a week if necessary.
Port Coquitlam is taking an even more hands-on approach. Mayor Greg Moore, head of the region's zero-waste committee and a fierce devotee of recycling, said staff are visiting each build- ing to talk to residents about the change. "No building's the same, so that helps," he said.
And one non-profit group is working with a dozen Vancouver condos and apartment buildings to figure out the best approach to getting everyone on the band- wagon.
"We're looking at how are we going to get from the keeners to critical mass," said Murray Mollard, one of the people leading Vancouver Trash Talk, which is funded by Vancity Credit Union, the City of Vancouver and TD Friends of the Environment Foundation.
He said everyone's first concern is that the bins will attract rats or other pests.
He said that has not happened in the buildings his group is working with. And he emphasizes that garbage has always contained food scraps.
Mr. Mollard said people must also be educated to keep non-organics out of their food-scraps bin. (A surprising number of people think that a plastic bag with "biodegradable" printed on it is good to go.)
And then, there is the space issue, especially for older buildings where owners never envisioned bins for regular paper, newspaper, cans and metal, glass, regular garbage and now food.
Sometimes a space must be re- designed, he said. Some buildings have to take a smaller cart that is emptied more often. Some are surprised to discover they can do with one less cart for regular garbage because so much is now diverted.
The ban on organics is sup- posed to be introduced slowly. In early 2015, waste haulers loads will be checked periodically and they will be told how much they would have been fined for having too much food waste in the regular garbage.
The real fines will come later and, eventually, be passed on to condo residents through in- creased fees for waste hauling.
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