We can do better with organic waste

Back in January, this space greeted the city’s new organic waste collection program in the four main urban areas of Kawartha Lakes with encouragement and high hopes. The green bins lined up along curbs on Friday mornings likewise seemed to indicate enthusiastic participation and a promising avenue for reducing the garbage we send to landfill.

Nine months later, those hopes have collided with reality. City staff report that a little more than one in three eligible households — buildings with five or fewer units in Omemee, Fenelon Falls, Lindsay and Bobcaygeon — are taking part in the program. To meet the province’s target, at least 50 per cent of these households need to be participating. To make a meaningful difference in the waste we send to landfill, that rate must be higher still.

Council recently approved measures for those who should already be participating in the organics program using the bins provided.

Specifically, as of June 15, 2026, these residents must not have any organic waste in their garbage, down from a 10 per cent limit that was virtually impossible for waste collectors to gauge. Starting at the same time, organic collection will happen on the household’s regular garbage day, making it even easier to take part. Households with the organics program available to them will only be allowed one bag of garbage picked up for free each week.

Urban dwellers who compost their own organic waste won’t be affected. Rural residents aren’t involved in the organics program at all, so they can still put out two bags of garbage (although ideally they’d compost or, where appropriate, feed food waste to animals).

The new rules are both necessary and sensible. Sensible because obviously a lot of people in the four areas covered by the program require stronger incentives. Necessary because several city landfills will be full within a decade, including the largest site northeast of Lindsay.

The changes won’t necessarily all be popular, but that doesn’t make them wrong. It was disappointing to hear Councillor Ron Ashmore say he couldn’t “sell” the idea of a single weekly bag of garbage to his Omemee constituents. Doing the right thing for the environment shouldn’t have to be soft-pedalled because someone can’t be bothered to use a separate container for some items, nor does such quibbling do anything to slow down the rapidly approaching end dates for our dumps.

It’s up to every single resident of Kawartha Lakes to cut back on the garbage they create in any responsible way they can. This isn’t a problem that will go away or fix itself. Separating organic waste is the least we can do to play our part.