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Where are we going with our Waste Diversion?

Congratulations to Markham residents for reaching the 70% target for waste diversion from landfill.  That makes us a North American leader in waste diversion.  I am proud to have served on the Three Stream Committee and to have been the Councillor who introduced the full program to Markham in Ward 5.  Together, we showed Markham how to do it, and we should take a collective bow.  But let's not stop there. 

We have achieved the 70% mark, but the rest of the Councillors and I have set a target of at least 75%.  We have audited the community's garbage and found many items, such as clothing, books and magazines that could just as easily have gone to charities. 

We are considering increasing the number of charitable donation stations and introducing staffed stations where people could drop off small furniture, TVs and clothing. 

"We probably have 90% of the residents in the recycling program." states Claudia Marsales, Manager of Waste Management for the Town. " They understand the concept of saving resources.  The fact that this has happened without a user-pay collection system as is being introduced in Toronto and elsewhere, shows the community cares." She said.

Now the next step is to look at packaging.  If we start to choose items without excess packaging, we can stop the landfill before it gets into the waste stream.

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