No plastic bags permitted in PoCo green waste
Don’t use plastic bags, even those deemed compostable, for your Port Coquitlam green waste.
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Updated: November 19, 2009 2:38 PM
Don’t use plastic bags, even those deemed compostable, for your Port Coquitlam green waste.
A recent advertisement in The Tri-City News may have left some residents thinking some plastic bags would be suitable for collecting green waste.
As well, at a council meeting in October, residents were told Richmond Composters would accept biodegradable kitchen garbage bags.
Since then, a number of councillors and staff members learned that this type of bag compromises composting operations and can contaminate the finished product.
One of the key features keeping costs for collecting green waste down is the fact 99% of material sent to processing comes out the other end as a usable product, Mayor Greg Moore said.
The product is a high-quality soil sold in bulk to nurseries and landscaping companies. If residents start using plastic bags of any sort, it forces someone at the other end to first rip open the bag to ensure it doesn’t contaminate the rest of the load. Plastics sneaking into the stream can drop profitability by as much as 30%, Moore explained.
Instead, PoCo residents should use plain brown paper bags or newspapers to separate or wrap their green waste.
Another way to reduce the “yuck factor” is to line the bottom of your green waste bin with newspaper. “This helps soak up the moisture,” Moore explained.
PoCo recently expanded its green waste collection program, which now allows residents to include meat, bones, dairy, pizza boxes, vegetable and fruit scraps to be added to yard waste bins.
jroessle@tricitynews.com
