Starting in mid-October, nearly 5,000 single-family homes and duplexes in Côte St. Luc will be joining a pilot project, using brown recycling bins, underway since last year — as the City's organic waste collection is extended to all residents.

Côte St. Luc's curbside organic waste collection was initially launched last September in 500 homes. According to Mayor Anthony Housefather, it was very well received by those residents. The expansion of the program now to all single-family homes and duplexes makes Côte St. Luc a leader on the island of Montreal in the treatment of residual waste.

Instead of separating garbage two ways (recycling and garbage), participants will be able to separate it three ways (recycling, garbage and organic waste) and will receive a new brown bin container, as well as a smaller collector for the kitchen. Diverting organic waste to compost facilities (and paper, plastic, glass and aluminum to recycling plants) will save Côte St. Luc money as dumping garbage becomes more costly.

"Côte St. Luc is committed to developing eco-friendly programs and minimizing our carbon footprint," says Councillor Dida Berku, the city council member responsible for environmental issues. According to Berku, 80 per cent of waste is either recyclable or compostable. "We want our city to be one of the first to achieve the Quebec government goal of 60 per cent waste diversion," she says.

Councillor Steven Erdelyi worked closely on the curbside organic waste collection program and visited the doors of more than 1,000 residents to help explain the program and answer their questions. "Most residents we meet are happy Côte St. Luc is doing this and are very eager to participate," he says.

While acknowledging that as with anything new, some people have fears and misconceptions about how it works, "based on our experience in the pilot project, once the program begins and people realize how simple it is, their fears will vanish and they will feel very good to be part of this."

An open-house meeting held last week at Côte St. Luc city hall to give out information on the project drew about 100 residents. Most questions concerned what sorts of organic materials are acceptable to be placed in the brown bins and which are not. At several recent Côte St. Luc city council meetings, questions about odours from the bins have come up.

According to instructions for using the bins, materials to be placed within include all food wastes, such as leftover meat, vegetables, fruits, as well as soiled paper (like paper towels, pizza boxes and kleenex) and garden waste. Erdelyi says odour control can be achieved three ways: waste can be wrapped in newspaper, paper bags, or special bags made specifically for composting.

The compostable bags are made of bio-degradable corn starch and break down organically in five to 10 weeks, compared to plastic garbage bags which break down in about 500 years. The compostable bags are available at 10 locations, including Côte St. Luc city hall, the public works department, Dollarama, IGA, Pharmaprix and Pharmacie Jean Coutu. "Residents can put their waste in these compostable bags and once they tie them up there shouldn't be any smell," Erdelyi says, adding that the brown bins should be rinsed occasionally.