The city’s Zero Waste Challenge has uncovered Nanaimo’s most diligent diverters.
The challenge, a partnership between the city and Nanaimo Recycling Exchange, was held during National Waste Reduction Week (Oct. 20-26) which encouraged residents to divert waste from the landfill through recycling and composting.
Success was measured by the amount of waste actually diverted.
The 40 households that participated achieve an 88-per cent average diversion rate, about 25 per cent better than the average diversion rate for all households across the city. If all Nanaimo homes achieved 88-per cent diversion, landfill greenhouse gas reductions would equal to getting 170 cars off the road annually, according to the City of Nanaimo.
First place winners were Judy and Kirby Villeneuve, who achieved a 98-per cent diversion rate.
Judy Villeneuve said her family has always recycled and they didn’t depart from their normal routine for the challenge.
“I didn’t even know it was a contest, really. I just saw it as an opportunity to see if we were doing things right and obviously we were,” Villeneuve said. “We’ve always recycled. I remember my mom recycling when I was really little, but we didn’t call it that then.”
The Villeneuves were presented with a certificate at a recent city council meeting and taken out for coffee by Nanaimo Mayor Bill McKay and Charlotte Davis, city sanitation and recycling manager.
“We weighed everything once they’d sorted [their garbage], then we sorted it and then we weighed it again, so we got two things. We got the improvement rate and we got the diversion rate,” Davis said.
Dean Rownd with Anne and Ken St. Arnault took second place with 97-per cent diversion.
Doug and Tanya Hiltz with Norm Abbey of Wisteria Lane won the most improved recyclers category with an 86-per cent diversion rate.
One waste product difficult to dispose of is dog feces, which can’t be placed in garbage or recycling bins and driving bags of pet waste to the landfill is impractical. Villeneuve will be testing a pet waste composting unit for the city, which is currently on order.
The device is like a bottomless barrel with a lid that is dug into the ground. Lime is sprinkled on pet waste deposited in the unit to promote decomposition.
“It’s like a little mini-trial and we’ll see how she goes with that,” Davis said.
Davis plans to hold the challenge annually.
