Strategy Behind the Vancouver Food Waste Ban

What Happened?

At the start of 2015 Vancouver enacted a ban on food scraps from disposal as garbage. Rather than adding organic waste to local landfills, the city aims to recycle the materials.

Goal

The Vancouver food waste ban is part of the city’s Greenest City 2020 Action Plan. The food waste ban is designed to keep organic material from piling up in nearby landfills, but rather recycled and composted through green methods to keep the city clean.

Vancouver offers all members of the community with information and resources on how best to recycle food and other organic scraps and reduce waste such as:

• Recycling food scraps in Green Bins
• Use food scraps for composting
• Dispose of food scraps at on-site organic management systems

The food waste ban is a key component to Vancouver’s Zero Waste Challenge to not only develop solutions for converting trash into energy, but also reduce overall waste production throughout the community. This program calls upon Vancouver residents as well as those in nearby cities to implement policies and regulations that reduce waste while encouraging more reuse and recycling of materials.

Greenest City 2020

Vancouver’s Greenest City 2020 Action Plan has outlined 10 specific goals the city aims to achieve by 2020. These goals address key environmental issues surrounding carbon emissions, waste production and ecosystem protection:

1. Green Economy
   1. Double the number of green jobs over 2010 levels
   2. Double the number of companies actively engaged in greening their operations over 2011 levels
2. Climate Leadership
   1. Reduce community-based greenhouse gas emissions by 33 percent from 2007 levels
3. Green Buildings
   1. Require all buildings built after 2020 to be carbon neutral in operations
   2. Reduce energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in existing buildings by 20 percent over 2007 levels
4. Green Transportation
   1. Make more than 50 percent of all tips via bike, foot or public transit
   2. Reduce average distance driven per resident by 20 percent from 2007 levels
5. Zero Waste
   1. Reduce total solid waste going to landfills or incinerators by 50 percent from 2008 levels
6. Access to Nature
   1. Offer green space, park or greenway within a 5-minute walk of all residents
   2. Plant 150,000 trees in the city
7. Lighter Footprint
   1. Reduce ecological footprint by 33 percent over 2006 levels
8. Clean Water
   1. Meet or exceed international drinking water standards and guidelines
   2. Reduce per capita water consumption by 33 percent over 2006 levels
9. Clean Air
   1. Meet or exceed World Health Organization air quality guidelines
10. Local Food
    1. Increase food assets by 50 percent over 2010 levels

To achieve an increased access to locally-sourced food, Vancouver is investing in community gardens, farmers markets, community orchards, composting facilities and urban farming projects.

Furthermore, Vancouver passed a Bird Strategy ordinance that offers design guidelines for bird-friendly management practices in parks and other open public spaces. This is an additional effort to preserve the city’s natural ecological systems.

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