The city’s latest waste audit shows less residential waste is making its way from North Bay to the Merrick Landfill.
But at the same time, Councillor Lana Mitchell, Chair of Infrastructure and Operations, says 60 per cent of what does go there from curbside pickup could still be diverted.
“While the numbers tell us that we’re headed in the right direction, we know there is still a lot of work to be done,” she says. “We will be continuing to take steps to increase recycling and usage of our other waste diversion programs.”
The City of North Bay’s waste diversion rate was 24 per cent in 2022, up from 20 per cent the year before.
It’s also up from the 19 per cent recorded in both 2019 and 2020.
Officials say a year after implementing a weekly two-bag limit on household garbage the city saw a year-over-year reduction of 10.8 per cent in tonnage of residential waste going to the landfill in 2022.
At the same time, Blue Box recycling and leaf and yard waste composting were both up.
Recycling increased by a little more than 150 metric tonnes to nearly 3,243 metric tonnes, while leaf and yard waste composting climbed to 1,015 metric tonnes, compared to 943 metric tonnes the year before.
