Due to the success of the food scraps pilot project, Burnaby's council and school district are now teaming up to do a full-scale collection program.
The pilot project saw nine schools participate in collecting food scraps and food-soiled paper in designated green bins provided by the city during 2011, according to a staff report.
"Based on the positive outcome of the pilot project, staff recommend partnering with (Burnaby School District) on the implementation of a full-scale public school food scraps program," the engineering report states. "Diverting food waste collection in public schools will move the city towards meeting the regional goal of 70 per cent diversion by 2015."
The six elementary schools and three secondary schools were given toters, weekly collection services, education and communication resources, and staff support by the city.
The school district distributed the educational materials to school administrators, coordinated student outreach, monitored the toters for contamination and placed them out at collection time.
A visual audit was also conducted bi-weekly before collection to identify any contamination issues and to evaluate the composition of the food waste collected.
"Waste composition studies show that compostable organics make up 34 per cent of waste disposed by the institutional sector," the report states.
Over time, the rate of participation and the volume of food scraps increased with average rates varying from school to school, with up to 110 kilograms worth a week. More than 12,500 kg was collected in total.
"The visual audits showed that composition of the food scraps varied between elementary schools, and between elementary and secondary schools," the report states. "Contamination was found in food scraps toters for both elementary and secondary schools, with a higher level of contamination in the secondary schools."
The pilot project was meant to find gaps in the system and it did - including the need for separate containers for internal food scraps collections, with material being transferred daily into centralized toters for weekly collection.
"Collection of food scraps needed to be undertaken near the end of the week as opposed to at the beginning of the week to prevent food scraps from sitting in collection containers over the weekend," the report states.
Also, the participation of student green teams, administration, teachers and custodians were lauded as key successful components to the program by the report.
The school district indicated its desire to move forward in implementing a full-scale program in a recent letter to the city.
