It鈥檚 not easy being green. Neighbours of a composting site along Interurban Road in Saanich know that from first-hand experience. They are plagued with smells from the operation that composts residential yard waste from the Saanich municipal yard.
It鈥檚 not a problem unique to that site. The Capital Regional District decided several years ago to eliminate the dumping of food scraps at the Hartland landfill by Jan. 1, 2015. As separate collection of food waste increased, Foundation Organics in Central Saanich was awarded the contract to compost the material.
Complaints about odours at the facility began in December 2011, increasing in August 2012. Hundreds of complaints were filed about horrible odours that were blamed for a variety of health problems.
The CRD suspended Foundation Organics鈥� licence in August 2013 and began shipping food scraps to Cobble Hill鈥檚 Fisher Road Recycling, which has a separate five-year contract to process Saanich鈥檚 food waste.
Foundation Organics has resumed composting, using material that does not contain food scraps.
Blue-box recycling and other programs are diverting 46 per cent of the waste stream from the landfill, according to the CRD website. By removing kitchen scraps, the CRD hopes to divert 70 per cent of garbage from the landfill.
It鈥檚 a worthwhile goal on several levels. It will reduce the amount of material deposited at the landfill, extending its life. That鈥檚 important 鈥� it would be virtually impossible to find a new landfill site.
Landfills are not a particularly good way to dispose of waste. The garbage is compacted and covered with earth, sealed off so that it doesn鈥檛 leach pollutants into the environment. That鈥檚 just kicking the problem down the road 鈥� organics are so well sealed, they don鈥檛 decompose, and other harmful substances remain underground to haunt future generations.
Besides that, it鈥檚 wasteful to bury materials that could be recycled. With composting, garbage becomes a resource; air, water and land are cleaner as a result.
Processes sometimes go awry and problems arise. And people who live near composting operations have to live with the consequences.
There鈥檚 nothing wrong with local governments mandating that all materials be composted 鈥� it鈥檚 what we should be doing 鈥� but more needs to be done to ensure that the proper expertise and resources are in place, and that rigid standards are met.
Shipping waste over the Malahat is not an ideal solution 鈥� it adds to the consumption of fossil fuels while spewing more greenhouse gases and other pollutants. The waste should be processed as close to home as possible.
Individual responsibility can play a huge part in mitigating the problem. More people could compost their own landscaping materials, enriching the soil with organic material rather than having it hauled away. Those who have the room could install digesters to handle food scraps that can鈥檛 go into a regular compost pile.
A sensible solution is to reduce the amount of food scraps that need to be composted. Canadians waste $27 billion worth of food every year, according to an Ontario-based research group called the Value Chain Management Centre. More than half of that consists of leftovers and outdated foods dropped into the garbage can.
The theoretical perfect sustainable lifestyle would have us all be self-sufficient 鈥� growing our own food or living on the 100-mile diet, creating no waste, walking or cycling wherever we go, relying on sun and wind for our energy requirements.
It sounds idyllic, but in reality, being green requires some work and much attention, and not all are willing to pay the price.
We can be much greener than we are, but we are more likely to get there in sensible steps than we are in giant leaps.
