5,500 tonnes and counting.
That's the amount of organic waste that has been collected and diverted from the local landfill since the launch of the green bin program last October.
An update was provided during Tuesday's Essex-Windsor Solid Waste Authority (EWSWA) board meeting, where officials stated how pleased they are with the number of residents taking part.
200-plus tonnes of organic waste have been collected weekly in Windsor, Essex, Lakeshore, LaSalle, and Tecumseh at the very start of the launch but have since risen to 275-plus tonnes as the program continues on.
Windsor has been a strong leader in the numbers, hitting 20 per cent diversion in the first five months, which is mainly due to their switch to bi-weekly garbage collection.
Michelle Bishop, General Manager of EWSWA, says the numbers are exceeding their expectations for the first year.
"We anticipated getting about 200 tonnes a week, and we were achieving that right off the bat when the program launched... now we're upwards of about 275 tonnes a week, so that's material that's all being diverted from the Essex-Windsor regional landfill and going to be repurposed."
She says they're pleased to see more local municipalities making the switch to bi-weekly garbage collection.
"Most recently we look at Niagara, I believe it was about a couple years ago they had a fully matured green bin program, they had their traditional recycling program, and that was a natural progression of the program was to switch all of the municipalities to bi-weekly. So we are expecting a lot of the municipalities to consider that... ultimately it is up to each individual municipality."
The current landfill at 7700 County Road 18 in Essex is expected to reach capacity in 2040.
Bishop says while they don't have the exact numbers at this time, they're hopeful that the early success of the program will extend the landfill's lifespan.
"Kingsville, Essex, and Amherstburg - they only deliver upwards of about 7,000 metric tonnes of refuse every year to the landfill. So, when we're talking about already hitting the 5,500 mark, we're getting very close as though one of the municipalities just didn't bring us garbage all year, so that is something to celebrate."
All food waste and organic material collected is sent to Seacliff Energy in Leamington to be converted into a liquid fertilizer.
Bishop says EWSWA has requested numbers from Seacliff Energy on how much fertilizer has been created thus far.
She adds that EWSWA is preparing for the next phase of the green bin program, which will include residents in Amherstburg, Kingsville, and Leamington later this fall.
This most recent update with the information on how much waste has been diverted has been sent to the city and all seven county municipalities.