A proposal that would have brought a green bin program to the Forest City was rejected during budget talks Saturday at city hall.
The vote was six councillors in favour and nine against.
London has been discussing a green bin program for years now.
Last year, the call for a green bin organic waste program in London seemed to be a step closer to reality following a staff report. But on Saturday during a rare weekend budget session, council rejected investment in a green bin program.
The costs were pegged at $12 million, followed by annual expenses of $4.5 million to operate.
Staff say new emerging technologies will help the city meet a 60 per cent diversion rate. The city now diverts about 45 per cent.
Coun. Stephen Turner says those new technologies could be costly and unreliable.
A waste diversion system would have required households to sort food scraps into a separate container similar to how blue boxes remove recyclables from the garbage sent to the landfill.
London is the largest city in the province not to have such a program.
Earlier this week, Turner sent out a Tweet stating that London could reduce its greenhouse gas significantly with a green bin program. He say it would be as much as 10,000 tons per year or the equivalent of removing 2,000 cars from our streets.
The London budget will be finalized on Thursday.
