City of Regina plan would keep 65% of garbage out of landfill by 2020 - Action News
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Saskatchewan

City of Regina plan would keep 65% of garbage out of landfill by 2020

The move to get Reginans to send a lot less garbage to the landfill is going slower than planned but hasn't been scrapped, a city hall report says.

Only 20% is being diverted now, short of target of 40% by this year

A blue bin and a brown bin
Regina City Council has a target of diverting 65 per cent of residential household waste from the landfill but the city's waste diversion rate has remained at only 20 per cent since 2015. (Mike Zartler/CBC)

The push to get Reginans to send a lot less garbage to the landfill is moving slower than planned but hasn't been scrapped, a city hall report says.

The city has had a waste plan in place for several years, and it was hoped that by now, at least 40 per cent of the residential waste being generated would be diverted so that it didn't end up in the dump.

Instead, by the end of 2016, only 20 per cent was being diverted, a report going to the public works and infrastructure committee on Thursday says.

The state of Regina's garbage system is on the agenda at City Hall on Thursday. (Kevin O'Connor/CBC)

The city says there are a number of reasons it didn't reach its goal. The 40 per cent figure was based in part on plans for a new program for curbside pickup of leavesand yard waste.

That program was never launched and as a result, a lot of leaves are ending up in garbage cans, the report says.

Garbage volumes could also be reduced in future if the city allows more types of items in its recycle bins that are currently banned for example, plastic bags or disposable drinking cups.

Meanwhile, the city isn't backing down on plans to send less material to the landfill.

It has set a new goal of diverting 65 per cent of residential garbagefrom the landfill by 2020.