Kincardine council has directed staff to perform an audit of the municipality’s landfill to see now usage has changed since the provincial government made changes in blue box service.
In a report delivered to council, there was little change for how much waste went to the landfill.
The Environmental Services department compared January 1st to March 23rd, and looked at the years 2021-2026.
This year, the amount of waste taken to the landfill actually saw an increase compared to the same time period for the previous two years, but less than what was reported from 2021-2023.
It was proposed that staff break down exactly what’s being picked up, and come up with a way to educate the municipality’s residents on what belongs in the blue box, and what is trash.
“I do think this is a good opportunity based on what we’re seeing from tonnages, to maybe consider one more information blast out there, whether that’s through utility bills or something that’s getting out to the homes,” said Mark O’Leary, the Manager of Environmental Services.
Concerns were raised by members of council that some residents weren’t bothering to recycle despite the list of eligible materials expanding with the changes from the province.
Councillor Jennifer Prenger also pointed out that there are residents who are improperly disposing of corrugated cardboard, and that there needs to be better awareness.
“We have a very good idea of what routes those trucks are coming off of, so then we can certainly target those routes and bring something back in late Q2 or early Q3.”
Council agreed that getting a report by the 3rd quarter of this year looking at usage over the summer would be useful, particularly since more people are getting used to transitioning to the new parameters for blue box collection.
The municipality is making efforts to divert as much waste as possible with the province’s new blue box rules to keep the existing landfill open for another ten years.