20% of Toronto’s garbage recycling winds up in landfill Explore
This Story Enthusiastic recyclers may be precious commodities
these days, but what if gung-ho “blue binners” with the best
intentions are doing the wrong kind of recycling? About 20 per
cent of refuse collected through the city’s blue bin recycling
program eventually finds its way to the Green Lane landfill,
according to one insider at the city’s solid waste management
services. That number has grown since 2007. That can partly be
attributed to a waste collection system where residents pay by
volume for garbage that can’t be composted or recycled, while
recycling is free, said Tim Michael, acting director of policy
and planning in Toronto’s waste management department. “It’s a
combination of materials that shouldn’t have been there in the
first place and odd bits of recyclables that may get through the
system without us capturing it,” Michael said of the waste
residue that is trucked from recycling facilities to landfill.
“You can’t have a totall