One hundred Ritchot households participated in a food waste reduction program this summer, thanks to a pilot project sponsored by the RM. At council’s October 2 public meeting, the results of the project were available for review.
Presenting the results was Brigitte Kirady, municipal program coordinator for Food Cycle Science, an Ottawa-based corporation whose mission is to promote widespread food waste solutions for Canadians.
Based on Kirady’s presentation, the program seems to have been an overwhelming success.
Kirady’s first presentation to Ritchot’s council took place in February of this year. At the time, she introduced them to the FoodCycler, an innovative household appliance, about the size of a bread machine, that transforms regular food waste into a nutrient-rich soil amendment in a matter of hours.
The byproduct is dry, sterile, and odourless. It takes up about one-tenth the mass and weight of the food waste it originated from and can be added to garden beds once complete.
“From an environmental standpoint, the FoodCycler is a net negative carbon solution,” Kirady told council. “What that means is that, just like planting trees or using solar panels, when you use the FoodCycler to avoid sending food waste to a landfill, you’re avoiding more greenhouse gasses than you’re creating.”
Since its inception, Food Cycle Science has partnered with more than 150 municipalities across Canada, providing the means for each municipality to cost-share with their residents.
Ritchot’s council was among those to greenlight a three-month pilot program.
After a $10,000 investment, the RM was able to find 100 residents willing to purchase a FoodCycler and participate in the 12-week trial. In the end, participants were allowed to keep the appliance.
During the trial period, users tracked their FoodCycler usage. In the end, they were asked to complete a survey and submit it to Food Cycle Science.
“We were able to collect a total of 86 survey responses,” Kirady told council at the October meeting. “Typically, response rates are anywhere between 75 and 80 percent, so this 86 percent is a lot higher than expected and it speaks to your community’s strong engagement and interest in the program.”
Based on survey results, 57 percent of Ritchot’s participating households reported throwing these food scraps into the garbage prior to their purchase of a FoodCycler.
Thirty-eight percent were using a backyard composting system before, but only half of that number composted all year-round.
Reasons for not composting in the past included undesirable odours and attraction of wild animals. However, most admitted that it was just too labour-intensive and required more space than they had available in their yard.
With the introduction of the FoodCycler to households, though, participants were shown to run the machine an average of 3.5 times per week.
According to Kirady, over the course of one year, this level of indoor composting would divert 26.5 metric tonnes of food waste from the landfill from this one group alone.
In terms of CO2 emissions, this equates to the amount of carbon a 40-acre forest sequesters over the course of one year.
Reducing household waste also means that fewer plastic garbage bags are needed. In this study, a reduction of 41 garbage bags per household per year could be realized.
“With just 100 FoodCyclers in your community, there are now over 4,000 fewer garbage bags being hauled to your landfill each year,” Kirady said.
Food waste awareness was another key component to come out of the pilot program. By far the majority of the survey respondents indicated a greater motivation to waste less food.
These same respondents believe that the majority of Ritchot residents could be encouraged to run FoodCyclers in their homes if the municipality made them available to residents at a low cost or no cost at all.
One hundred percent of respondents indicated an intent to continue using their FoodCycler after the program was complete.
“This level of participation far exceeds any other organic waste management solution out there today,” Kirady said. “For example, here in Ottawa we have a green bin program that offers weekly curbside pickup. That only has a 57 percent participation rate.”
Mayor Chris Ewen thanked Kirady for her presentation. As one of the 100 participants, Ewen says he loves the FoodCycler appliance and highly recommends it to others.
