I attended an open house  August 20   at city hall where we unveiled our curbside organic waste collection program, which starts in mid-October with all 4,798 single-family homes and duplexes. Since townhouses, high rise condominiums and apartment buildings will not be part of this first phase of the program, the only District 2 residents to be affected by this will be those on Ilan Ramon Crescent.  Beginnng October 20 Ilan Ramon homeowners will have their garbage picked up on Mondays and organic waste on Thursdays.  Recycling pickup will remain on Tuesdays.

I wish to give credit to Councillors Steven Erdelyi and Dida Berku, along with our staff in Public Works, for spearheading this project, which was launched a year ago in 500 homes.  Instead of separating garbage two ways (recycling and garbage), participants will now separate it three ways (recycling, garbage, and organic waste) and will receive a new brown bin container and small kitchen collector.

Diverting organic waste to compost facilities (and paper, plastic, glass and aluminum to recycling plants) will save Côte Saint-Luc money as dumping garbage becomes most costly.  We had a good turnout at the meeting. I can say that most of the town houses, condos and apartment buildings in District 2 are already on board in terms of recycling.  And they will become part of the organic waste collection in due time.

-30-

The annual household hazardous waste collection takes place in Côte Saint-Luc on Sunday, August 17 from 9am to 5pm beside the Public Works building at 7001 Mackle Rd.

Common hazardous items include fluorescent light bulbs (including compact florescent lights), batteries, paint and solvents, pesticides, cleaning products, aerosol cans, motor oil, gasoline, expired medication, thermometers, used computers and electronic equipment and empty propane tanks.

At last year’s event, we collected a record 6.5 tonnes of household hazardous wasteé Since taking office in 2006, our city council has introduced recycling in more than 90 percent of apartment buildings, launched an organic waste collection pilot project, switched to low-sulphur diesel fuel in our vehicle fleet, adopted an anti-idling bylaw, created a permanent electronic waste depot and more. We are moving the city in the right direction on many eco-friendly fronts and we ask residents to do their part too.

Residents should not mix different household hazardous materials. Please follow any instructions for use and disposal provided on product labels, and when possible, bring items tightly sealed in original containers without removing the labels. Place any container that cannot be tightly closed in a sealed plastic bag.

Used electronic equipment will also be accepted during the collection. If you can not attend this collection day, you can drop off hazardous waste at any of Montreal’s Eco-centres. For more information visit the City of Montreal’s website, www.ville.montreal.qc.ca or call 514-872-3517.

Residents can also dispose of regular batteries and rechargeable batteries at the Public Works building (7001 Mackle Rd.), weekdays from 8am to 4pm, or at other municipal buildings shortly.