Green Wave Spreads to East Hants

East Hants residents have been swept up in a provincial 'green wave'; an organic cart green wave to be exact.

The Municipality of East Hants distributed 2800 residential organic green carts for the separation of materials for composting. Organic food waste, yard waste, soiled paper and non-recyclable paper will no longer be sent to the landfill. Residents in the corridor area of the municipality from Enfield to Shubenacadie have been asked to place their organic materials in the carts for collection and delivery to a composting facility.

Environment Minister Don Downe says the East Hants system is the newest example of a growing environmental waste-resource management industry. "I want to congratulate the people of East Hants as the latest participants in this very important environmental initiative," said Mr. Downe. "Through this compost program we are not only turning organic material into a sellable product, but we are creating jobs in Nova Scotia. This is a win-win situation any way you look at it."

"Our residents were ready for this and the response has been extremely positive," says East Hants Warden Lloyd Matheson. "Organic material will soon be banned from the landfill and we have begun implementing a system that our residents have been expecting."

East Hants is the latest in a number of municipalities across the province that have initiated organic cart collection systems. Homeowners in the towns of Truro, Bridgewater, Lunenburg and Mahone Bay, the District of Lunenburg, Halifax Regional Municipality and 36 per cent of Colchester County are now serviced with organic carts.

Organic material collected in the carts will be delivered to the Good Earth Organic Resources Group Ltd. in Sackville for composting. Composting facilities are strictly regulated to ensure that odours and leachate are controlled and treated.