We could all soon have composters in our back yards in an attempt to cut back on the amount of waste going to landfills.
The new Waste-Free Ontario Act will make it mandatory to separate food and other organics from the waste stream with municipalities told to implement programs by the end of 2018.
Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley says right now Sarnia's diversion rate is only about 30%.
"We were ahead of our time ten to 15 years ago when had a trial experiment, working with homes and restaurants," says Mayor Bradley. "It was a failure. We just couldn't get the level of cooperation. The one key issue is that it is a very expensive process. Even back then we were talking a lot of money to implement it. It was in the millions. The big question is how much would it cost the public to achieve the goal of a 70% diversion rate as mandated by the province?"
One possibility is an aggressive back yard composting program.
City Hall will soon launch a survey to determine how residents feel and what they are doing now to divert waste.
Bradley says Sarnia is in a unique position.
"We are not like most cities, responsible for the collection, and the disposal of waste. Our collection is by the city contractors while disposal is done by the Lambton County."
The city would also have to find a compost landfill as the St. Andrew St. facility is close to capacity.
It's not known if the Waste-Free Ontario Act would provide funding to municipalities to help pay for the programs.