MONTREAL -- Composting is about to get easier for some Montrealers.
On Monday city officials announced that the collection or organic matter from buildings with nine or more dwellings will begin this year.
According to a statement from the city, different collection methods will be tried out in four boroughs in 2020: Montreal North, St-Laurent, the Southwest and Ville-Marie.
The city said results from the pilot project will be taken into account to determine the best collection method.
The first phase of the project will include 4,000 dwellings in each borough. The city said the hope is to offer compost collection to 100 per cent of Montrealers by 2025.
“This collection will allow Montreal to move towards zero waste by 2030 and recover more organic matter. In Montreal, organic matter represents more than half of buried waste most of it from table scraps,” said Jean-Francois Parenteau, the executive committee member responsible for the environment and citizen services.
Ville-Marie city councillor Robert Beaudry said the project will help Montreal reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
“The borough has a lot of nine-unit buildings and we hope to possibly establish collection throughout the borough,” he said.
St-Laurent Mayor Alain DeSousa said his borough changed its bylaws a decade ago mandating new constructions have refrigerated rooms to store organic waste for collection.
"You can imagine with the new composting centre being built in St-Laurent there is an urgent need to get going," he said.
Hans Brouillette of the Quebec Landlord Association said the pilot program will likely come with problems.
"What we fear is to have those garbage bags and bins being left on the balcony for one week or even more," he said.
