Brown bins coming to your home

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Get ready to compost.

The city of Montreal wants every household within city limits to be collecting and separating food scraps from trash by 2019.

Mayor Denis Coderre said the city will distribute 435,000 brown bins over the next four years, beginning next year.

100,000 households in several boroughs already have to separate food waste from their garbage, with Rosemont, RDP and Mercier-HoMA having the most participants, although the city estimates anywhere from 20 to 40 percent of people in the rest of the city already compost at their homes or in communal bins.

"It's a matter of conscience," said Coderre.

"There is no plan B for the planet. We need to act now. When we talk about sustainable development it's not just a matter of governance, it's not just elected people, it's everybody's business."

As brown bins are distributed the frequency of garbage collection will be reduced. Where garbage and recycling are picked up once a week, the city will add one day to pick up food waste.

The boroughs where trash is picked up twice a week will see garbage collection reduced to one day a week, with the second day become a compost pickup.

The city estimates that half of each garbage can is organic material that can be composted.

People living in apartments with more than eight units will not be required to separate their trash, although that will remain the responsibility of the building owner.

The city is already spending $260 million to construct four composting facilities in LaSalle, St. Laurent, Montreal East and Riviere des Prairies. The sites in LaSalle and Montreal East will be used to produce biomethane, while the other sites will only be used for compost.

What can you compost? A beginner's guide.