Latest
National Composting Survey Results released by Council
The top line results of the latest survey of centralized composting facilities in Canada has just been released by The Council. The following provides the information as provided to the members of The Composting Council of Canada.
More details to follow.
| The results
are based on phone surveys with 227 composting facilities across Canada,
with the input being focused on 2005 results. Here are some of the top line findings: |
|
| 1. 227 composting facilities responded to our survey (85 private; 123 public; 19 public-private partnerships) |
|
| Regionally, these facilities are located as follows: | |
| Western Canada (BC-AB-SK-MB) | 98
facilities (43% of total) |
| Ontario | 60
facilities (26% of total) |
| Quebec | 29
facilities (13% of total) |
| Atlantic Canada (NB-PE-NS-NF) | 40
facilities (18% of total) |
| 2. Of the facilities who provided input*, 3,947,184 tonnes of organic materials were processed in 2005. Private composting facilities processed 2,907,907 tonnes (74% of total) while public composting facilities processed 1,039,277 tonnes of organic residuals (26% of total). | |
| Regionally, these facilities processed the following tonnages: | |
| Western Canada | 867,761
tonnes (22% of total) |
| Ontario | 681,089
tonnes (17% of total) |
| Quebec | 1,004,970
tonnes (26% of total) |
| Atlantic Canada | 1,393,363
tonnes (35% of total) |
| Provincially, the facilities where the most volume (3,773,871 tonnes; 95.6% of total) is being processed are as follows: | |
| New Brunswick | 1,227,245
tonnes |
| Quebec | 1,004,970
tonnes |
| Ontario | 681,089
tonnes |
| Alberta | 602,810
tonnes |
| British Columbia | 257,757
tonnes |
| * some facilities chose not to provide tonnage information | |
| On a national basis, the facilities reported that they were operating at 74% capacity. | |
| 3. The most common composting method being used is windrows (166 facilities). Other composting methods include: | |
| Static aerated piles | 22
facilities |
| In-vessel | 30
facilities |
| 4. The most common organic residual feed stocks accepted at composting facilities are Yard waste, Wood waste and Animal Manures. Residential and commercial food residuals were being processed by 67 facilities and 34 facilities, respectively. Municipal biosolids were being processed at 32 composting facilities. | |
| 5.
The facilities reported 2005 production of 2,434,378 tonnes of compost.
Compost was sold in bulk and bag format by 159 and 53 facilities respectively.
Sixty-eight composting facilities also were involved in “compost
give-away” activities. Fifty-nine facilities used the compost that
they produced for their own use. To give you a perspective of how far we’ve progressed …. In our first national survey (1992/93), there were about 100 composting facilities processing 275,000 tonnes of organics. In 1998, our survey reported the processing of 1,650,000 tonnes of organic residuals. (The full results of our last survey (1998) can be found by visiting: http://www.compost.org/compostinggrowsstronger.html). |
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