London’s green bin program one year in

It’s been one year since London launched its green bin program alongside bi-weekly garbage collection.

While city officials continue to look into what went wrong and what went right, the director in charge of all things green said he likes what he sees so far.

“Let’s face it here. We’ve brought in some major new programs with the green bin and bi-weekly garbage collection. Londoners had some big changes to deal with. Overall, I believe the performance has been excellent from Londoners,” said Jay Stanford, director of Environment and Waste Management.

Stanford said Londoners have improved from a 40 per cent green bin participation rate in the first part of 2024 to 60 per cent currently. That’s better than the average of 57 per cent for eight comparable communities

In one year, green bin users diverted from landfills nearly 15,000 pounds of food waste.

Last year the city collected feedback on the green bin and bi-weekly garbage program for the first six months of the year. Stanford said 7,500 people shared their thoughts.

“Many loved the green bin. Many are not satisfied with bi-weekly garbage pickup. What we’re trying to determine is, when someone’s not liking the bi-weekly garbage pickup, are they in fact participating in the green bin? Because the green bin has provided a much higher level of service. That is where a lot of the smellier types of materials are collected on a weekly basis,” Stanford explained.

A second round of community input wraps up this weekend. Stanford said over the last six months 3,500 people have taken part. He’s hoping for a late surge of participants.

“We’re encouraging Londoners to take advantage of the last weekend to provide comments. Come to the city’s website. Either type in green bin or look for our Get Involved location. Very easy. It’s a survey and feedback form that will take you no more than ten minutes to fill in.”

Those wishing to provide feedback can fill in the form found at the following link.

There is also an online public input session scheduled for Tuesday evening. Details can be found here.