Harbour Main to use MMSB money for curbside organic waste collection

By Mark Squibb

Harbour Main-Chapel’s Cove-Lakeview was among 17 towns and organizations this month tapped to receive a combined $162,000 in funding from the Province for waste management projects.

The money is coming from the Multi-Materials Stewardship Board’s (MMSB) Community Waste Diversion Fund. The provincial funding announcement was made in Harbour Main, which is getting $21,683 to help launch a curbside organic waste collection program.

“This grant is primarily for communication and stakeholder engagement,” said Mayor Mike Doyle. “This is about engaging the source of the organics, and that means engaging the community.”

Doyle said that besides being the morally right thing to do, diverting organic waste from landfills could save the Town up to $10,000 a year in tipping fees at the dump.

“Ten thousand dollars may not seem like a lot to bigger municipalities, but that’s a lot of money for us,” said Doyle. “And if you look at that over 10 years, that’s $100,000 in savings for the municipality.”

The Town already boasts a commercial composter and the buckets needed for organic waste collection. Doyle said that in addition to helping cover the cost of communications efforts, money from the grant will be used to sort out the logistics of the program, such as how often waste is collected and by whom.

Doyle said Harbour Main is also looking at one day buying a glass crusher, which would allow the Town to crush glass into a fine sand to use along local trails and shorelines, while potentially saving upwards of $5,000 annually in tipping fees.

The Town hopes to be able to divert 100 per cent of local organic waste, recyclable plastics and paper by 2030.