By Stephen Vance, Staff
The Municipality of Meaford continues to be a leader in the province for waste diversion. Director of Operations, Stephen Vokes, informed council at their March 23 meeting that the municipality has “clawed its way back” into the top three on Waste Diversion Ontario’s annual ranking of municipal waste diversion programs.
“The Municipality of Meaford understands that forward thinking communities can protect the environment through compost, re-use and recycling programs. As a result of our efforts as a community, Meaford has once again ranked highly among Ontario municipalities for reducing the amount of waste that ends up in the landfill,” said the municipality in a press release issued before the meeting.
Meaford earned third place in Ontario with a waste diversion rate of 61 percent is well above the provincial average of 47.3 percent.
With a focus in recent years on decreasing the amount of trash sent to landfills through initiatives such as pay-as-you-throw bag tags, the bolstering of curbside compostable organics collection, and various public education programs, Meaford has seen positive results that other communities might be envious of.
Some of the many waste diversion programs offered by the municipality include:
· Recycling and Green Bin compost pickup
· Electronic waste drop-off
· The Blue W Campaign
· Plastic Film Recycling
· The Green Up Clean Up Campaign
· No More Trash Spring Bash
· Trash Troopers
· Recyclable single-use battery collection depots
While Meaford first reached the provincial goal of 60 percent diversion in 2011 (which was supposed to have been reached by all municipalities by 2008), the provincial target has been adjusted, and the new goal for Ontario municipalities is a 70 percent rate of waste diversion.
The municipality will also be facilitating its second RE-Use fair as part of the 2015 Earth Week celebrations on Saturday, April 18 from 9 am to 1 pm at the Meaford and St Vincent (MSV) Community Centre. This event allows residents to donate unused items towards a wish list created by community groups. During last year’s RE-Use fair alone, three quarters of a ton of goods changed hands.
“These programs have been so successful because of the participation of our residents, so we need to thank everyone in the community for taking an active role in the programs we have available,” said Vokes.
