Study indicates increasing organics recycling Study indicates increasing organics recycling <div class="ExternalClass4AB71ED775494825B31FCABB65EEF1CC"><p>Metro Vancouver regularly monitors the composition of the region's waste, to understand what is going into our landfills and waste to energy facility. This information helps target specific materials for recycling programs and supports waste diversion goals as set out in the region's <a href="/services/solid-waste/SolidWastePublications/ISWRMP.pdf" target="_blank"> <em>Integrated Solid Waste and Resource Management Plan</em></a>. </p><p>The 2015 waste composition study sorted residential, commercial and institutional waste into 138 categories, which are clustered into 13 categories for the pie charts below. The 2015 study revealed an estimated 20% reduction in organic material in the garbage in 2015, compared to 2014. In part this is thanks to the organics disposal ban and all of the increased information and activity around <a href="/services/solid-waste/food-scraps-recycling/Pages/default.aspx" target="_blank">food scraps recycling</a> in recent years. Metro Vancouver residents and businesses are recycling their organics.</p><p>Another notable finding is that while the amount of paper being thrown away has decreased significantly over the last decade, paper (pale blue in the pie chart) is still about 160,000 tonnes or 17% of the waste stream. Plastics too (pale orange) remain a significant percentage of the waste stream, although the amount of plastics disposed per person has decreased over the years. </p><p>The pie charts below compare waste study data from 2007 to 2015, and include all of residential, commercial and institutional waste but exclude construction and demolition waste. Metro Vancouver's waste composition reports are posted on the <a href="/services/solid-waste/about/reports-resources/Pages/default.aspx" target="_blank">website here</a>. </p><p><img alt="Organics recycling" src="/metroupdate/PublishingImages/OrganicsRecyclingPieCharts.jpg" style="margin:5px;" /> </p></div>http://www.metrovancouver.org/metroupdate/PublishingImages/issue20-organics.jpg2016-04-27T07:00:00ZGP0|#980b6cf5-dbc2-4d05-ba15-0478f9c594c9;L0|#0980b6cf5-dbc2-4d05-ba15-0478f9c594c9|Issue 20;GTSet|#d14ffe11-45dc-48fb-8684-ff109cf15a74<div class="ExternalClassAD12045D56A049CBAEAF67AB2C49C172"><p>​Many households and businesses are now recycling food scraps every day. Reducing their regular garbage (often by more than half!), and sending those food scraps to a facility for composting.</p></div>0