The City of Burnaby, British Columbia recently released its Solid Waste and Recycling 2021 Annual Report that showed that over 60% of the waste generated in the municipality was being diverted from landfill.
Data from the City’s Solid Waste and Recycling Annual Report shows that, for the third year in a row, green waste comprised the largest share of collected materials (41%), while recycling comprised 20%. Only 39% of the collected materials were classified as garbage.
While the city-wide picture is strong, the report acknowledges that there are opportunities to improve the diversion rate for multi-family, industrial, commercial and institutional properties. While the diversion rate for these properties is slowly improving each year, the City is exploring additional ways to accelerate this positive trend.
The report also highlights other key achievements related to waste reduction in Burnaby, including:
- Creating new partnerships to collect electronics, small appliances and power tools for recycling at the Eco-Centre;
- Initiating plans to develop a civic-owned green waste processing facility;
- Acquiring a mobile camera to deploy to illegal dumping hot spots on city streets and lanes to deter illegal dumping and/or capture the evidence required for enforcement; and
- Receiving $128,000 in program incentive bonuses from Recycle BC for demonstrating high diversion rates in the residential curbside collection program.
