Food collection in Quebec: “Citizens, into your bags and into your bins!”

You can go to the collection of food items in the new bins and bags distributed by the city of Quebec…but only start in La Haute-Saint-Charles.

• Read more: Everything you need to know about the Quebec City Integrated Biomethanation Center

• Read more: Quebec: Your food waste will soon be collected from your garbage can

The mayor, Bruno Marchant, and Marie-Josie Asselin, vice-president of the executive committee, officially launched the collection of residues found in the new biomethanization center on Tuesday.

“Citizens, to your bags and your tanks! Ms. Introducing Asselin is proud to launch this curated collection since 2012.

Starting Wednesday, a small bin and purple bags will be provided free of charge to every door, apartment in single-family or multi-unit buildings. This item is designed and manufactured in Quebec.

In La Haute-Saint-Charles, it starts now. Residents must now sort their food items (Check box)

The organic matter contains a lot of water, which is removed from the incinerator, which improves its performance, Ms Asselin says.

Thus the city has chosen to avoid the brown bin and the third collection route. 50 truck trips per day or 13,000 per year and 3,150 tons of GHG savings per year.

Mayor Marchand explained that this is one less headache in times of labor shortages.

Phased implementation

After La Haute-Saint-Charles, other boroughs will follow. Ms Asselin explained that we couldn’t have positioned everything across the city at once.

“We have to proceed gradually and give ourselves time to make changes, because there will certainly be some,” Mayer advised.

“There will be challenges, problems. It may not be perfect. But we move because we prefer imperfection to nothingness. »

Quebec is “one of the few cities in Canada that has made this ambitious choice,” Mr. Marchant said. The capital will house one of the largest biogas plants in North America. Many cities have watched what has been done here to draw inspiration from it, he says.

The city has chosen the collection through colorful bags, especially suitable for a dense city with many apartment buildings.

Citizens do not have to suffer the inconvenience of nuisance, bad smell and white worms in garbage cans. Even by distributing the bags, the city saves $6.7 million a year.

Plastic bags are shredded and burned in an incinerator. But we are actively looking for a way to recycle them.

$210 million project

The biomethanization center project, located in Limoyle, has a cost of $210 million, of which $150 million will be borne by the city, which hopes to generate $100 million in revenue over 20 years from biogas sales.

Limoilou Councilor Jackie Smith supported these choices. “This greenwashing project will cost all of us residents of Limoilo. The city has yet to understand that our neighborhood is a living environment, not a dumping ground. »

How does it work?

• Each residence will receive a small kitchen sink and a roll of 48 purple bags, which will be renewed free of charge every six months.
• Full purple bags are placed in the trash.
• They are taken to regular collection, sorted in the incinerator and then sent to the biomethanation center.
• Food residues are decomposed through biomethanation.
• The gas produced by biomethanation will be sold.
• Plastic is incinerated.

A question to ask

can eat Where is That’s part of it Something edible?

If the answer is yes, the residue goes in the purple bag.

Examples:

Leftover meat, vegetable or fruit scraps, coffee grounds, bones, egg or shellfish shells, nut shells, bread crusts, dairy products, etc.

Collection deployment calendar

November 2022
Haute-Saint-Charles

December 2022
Charlesburg

January 2023
St-Foy-Chillery-Cape-Rouge

February 2023
Rivers, L’Ancienne-Lorette

March 2023
Beauport, Saint-Augustin-de-Desmoyrs

April 2023
La Citt-Limoillo