North Bay, ON – July 5, 2022 – The City of North Bay, with the assistance of Canadore College’s School of Environmental Studies, is taking a deep dive into the household waste that’s picked up at the curb for a better understanding of the sort of materials going into our landfill.
As part of a recent week-long waste audit, students from Canadore’s School of Environmental Studies sorted and categorized the materials from randomly-selected bags of garbage arriving at the Merrick Landfill site between June 20 and June 24. In order to capture a sample representative of every neighbourhood in North Bay, a total of 80 bags were audited -- four from each truck arriving at the landfill during the week.
The materials were divided into two main categories – waste not included in the City’s diversion program, which should be disposed of at the landfill; and waste included in the City’s diversion program and which should not be disposed at the landfill.
Examples of materials that are a part of the City’s current waste diversion program include leaf and yard waste, textiles, household hazardous waste, electronics and recyclable material such as plastics, cans, glass, cardboard and paper.
“Unfortunately, the first days of sorting showed a large amount of recyclable material including pop bottles, paper, cardboard and aluminum cans being thrown out. There were also textiles, leaf/yard waste and household hazardous waste found in the bags,” said Environmental Control Officer Victoria Thomas. “The final results of the audit will give us a good understanding of the City’s current diversion rate. This will help determine what areas we need to focus on for future programs, education and outreach.”
The group of Canadore students will be providing a report to the City with their complete findings, which will be used to help update the City’s Waste Diversion Strategy. Past audits have indicated as much as 40 per cent of residential waste arriving at the landfill is recyclable material.
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