Whenever garbage collection day approaches, like many Kingston residents, I often have to check the collection calendar to remind myself whether to put out my blue box or my grey box. As a family we try to recycle as much as we can, but with two weeks in between collection, our blue box is often overflowing by the end of the second week. Sound familiar? Well the good news is, at our next City Council meeting, we’ll be considering plans to introduce a dual stream recycling program in Kingston. That means you’ll be able to put out your blue box and your grey box every week. It will be simpler, and it will also provide more opportunity for Kingston residents to expand their recycling.
If Council approves this new plan, the shift in recycling is going to take some time because we’ll need to install new equipment at the City’s recycling depot to help sort cardboard, mixed fibres, plastics and glass. That’s because a dual stream pickup will have both blue and grey box contents arriving at the same time. Once all of this background work is done, the goal is to launch new and improved recycling pick up beginning in the middle of 2021. While there will be some additional cost to operate a dual stream system, the hope is that there will also be efficiencies, with sorting done at the recycling depot instead of at the curb where it’s collected.
Being able to put out your blue box and your grey box every week makes a lot of sense, not only as a convenience for residents, but also as a way to encourage more recycling. Over the last number of years we’ve come a long way in reducing the amount of waste that we send to landfill. In 2006, we diverted 45% of our waste from landfill, but we have been able to increase that number to 60%, and now we are aiming at 65% diversion by the year 2025. A recycling program that is simpler, more convenient and expands opportunities to recycle is exactly the sort of initiative that will help us achieve our waste diversion goals.
(Council approved the new plan at the March 19th council meeting.)