The amount of waste Winnipeggers kept out of the landfill in 2023 dropped was the lowest level in a decade.
Last year, 27.6 per cent of waste collected by the city was recycled or composted. That’s more than two percentage points lower than the 29.9 per cent reported in 2022.
It’s also the fifth consecutive year that the city’s waste diversion rate has fallen since reaching a peak of 33 per cent in 2018.
The city measures the amount of waste that goes to landfill — and the amount recycled or composted — by weight, which may account for some of the drop last year, according to a report from the city.
Part of the reason for the drop last year is due to dry weather leading to lighter yard waste, the report says.Last year, 26,851 tonnes of residential leaf and yard waste material was composted — a drop of 6,282 tonnes, or 19 per cent, from 2022.
Recycling materials have also gotten lighter, the report notes. The total weight of recyclable materials collected last year, from both curbside blue bins and from recycling depots, was 46,147 tonnes in 2023, a drop of 5.2 per cent from the 48,658 tonnes collected the year before.
Overall, Winnipeggers threw out less garbage last year than the previous one, according to the report — total residential waste generated was approximately 274,080 tonnes last year, compared to 282,280 tonnes in 2022 — a 2.9 per cent drop.
Lisa Marquardson, a spokesperson for the city’s water and waste department, told CBC News the drop in the waste diversion rate does not indicate anything about the performance of the program.
“The primary reason for a decreased waste diversion rate is lower leaf and yard waste production in 2023,” Marquardson said in an email.
“A secondary reason is that the materials collected through the city’s blue cart program are continuing to get lighter,” Marquardson added.
In 2011, Winnipeg city council set a goal of increasing the waste diversion rate to 35 per cent by 2016, and to more than 50 per cent by 2022.
The city won’t make significant progress on waste diversion until it launches a curbside compost program, the report says.
The City of Winnipeg has debated launching a green cart program, but the proposal has been delayed for years.
In October, a report from city staff said they aimed to launch a citywide compost program by 2030, but council ordered a report looking at options to get the program operating by 2026. That report is expected in July.
Water and waste committee chair Coun. Brian Mayes (St. Vital) said the falling waste diversion rate is “not good news … but it’s not disastrous.”
The city made progress on increasing the diversion rate in the first few years after its comprehensive integrated waste management strategy was implemented in 2013, but has fallen gradually in recent years, Mayes said.
“What it really highlights to me is what we’ve got to make some decisions about a compost program,” he said.
The report will be delivered to the water and waste committee at its Friday meeting.