Montreal to begin compost collection for large apartments later this year

MONTREAL -- Montreal is expanding compost collection to large apartment buildings, starting with six boroughs.

"Reducing landfill by collecting food waste is one of the priority actions to accelerate the ecological transition and move towards zero waste," said Jean-Francois Parenteau, City of Montreal Executive Committee member in charge of environment and citizen services.

Compost from apartment buildings with nine units or more will begin gradually, according to Parenteau. The first boroughs to begin collection will be Cote-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grace, Pierrefonds-Roxboro, Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie, Saint-Léonard, Saint-Laurent and LaSalle.

Collection will be rolled out gradually in selected sectors between now and the fall.

Montreal has pledged to cut down on 85 per cent of its waste going to landfills by 2030, as well as having compost collection available to all households by 2025, and Parenteau says Wednesday’s announcement is a “bigger step” towards achieving that goal.

By 2025, a total of 350,000 units in large apartments will have access to compost collection once per week, as well about 30,000 institutional buildings and businesses, according to a City of Montreal press release.

Residents in larger apartment buildings will be provided with individual brown compost bins. The buildings will also be given larger 240-litre bins for street-side collection.