Today council formally approved a curbside compost & neighbourhood compost program for Vancouver which will be implemented in three phases, the first of which starts on April 22.
The project stems out of a recommendation from the Greenest City Action Team last April. While I have had some struggle over the past year trying to understand, as a first term councillor, why previous councils have spokedn alot about their love of compost but had never acted on it, working to get it through this past year has been illuminating.
The three big challenges have been:
(1) how to meet the very different pick up needs of single detached residential vs mulri-unit apartments (to start with one is city pick up, the other private)
(2) balancing off the needs of beginner composters who are much more likely to want curbside pick up with those that are more advanced and want more access to backyard and neighbourhood composting
(3) where to put all the food scraps once you've collected them
The plan brought forward by staff found solutions to all these problems and they are to be applauded for their hard work to get us from "we should" to "we can and here's how we are going to do it". CUPE 1004 and Metro Vancouver's flexibility and support also makes it possible to work through the phases together to make sure everyone's needs and concerns can be accomodated. Group learning!
Finally, the communication challenge is huge and from the experience of other cities essential to making it work. Over the coming weeks (days actually) information will start to be available. If you're compost literate please share with neighbours. The faster we get phase 1 right, the sooner we get to phases 2 and 3 which are really the big prize on the road to zero waste.
Check out the plan here: http://vancouver.ca/ctyclerk/cclerk/20100304/documents/csbu2.pdf
More info on details as they are available on City of Vancouver website: http://vancouver.ca/projects/foodWaste/index.htm
Andrea this is great. But the current composters are awful. we've had two break in the past 2 years. could you find another supplier? or have a higher quality option.
Posted by: harvey Mckinnon | March 07, 2010 at 11:10 AM