The City of Airdrie has been hosting an organics recycling survey on its website for the past 10 days to educate residents about the program that will be coming to their doors in April.
According to results from the online survey that was released on Feb. 3, 70 per cent of respondents are unaware of the adverse affects of sending organics to a landfill.
The City of Airdrie has been working to better educate residents on organics recycling through the use of advertising and analyzing the results of the survey, according to Jill Iverson from the City’s Corporate Communications department.
Kathleen Muretti, director of Airdrie Waste and Recycling, said this survey is in place to establish a baseline of how much residents know about organic recycling.
“We will conduct this same survey six months after this one closes (Feb. 18) to make sure that we are educating people in the right areas,” said Muretti.
“We use these surveys to get an idea as to where we need to put our resources for education.”
As of press time, there had been more than 500 responses to the online survey; the City’s Corporate Communications department, along with Waste and Recycling will glean the results to determine their next steps in the education process, before the curbside pick-up of organics rolls out to all residents on April 1.
“Seventy per cent of the respondents didn’t think that sending organic material to a landfill was harmful to the environment,” Iverson stated.
“The fact is, that at a landfill the organic materials don’t get enough oxygen, and as a result they emit methane gas into the air.”
The survey is 14 questions long, takes about five minutes to complete and also includes a section for comments or questions, according to Iverson.
She is urging all residents take part and fill one out before the closing period on Feb. 18.
“We really rely on these types of things in order to educate residents,” said Iverson.
“Through our organics pick-up pilot program and our own research, we’ve found that there’s generally a low level of education on this subject. Getting to know where people’s knowledge is lacking helps us to design our FAQ sheets and determine what information we need to be putting out.”
Those who took part in the 13-week pilot last summer in the Waterstone and Canals neighbourhoods are starting to understand the concept of curbside recycling more now, according to Iverson.
Paul Hunter, a six-year resident of Waterstone says the program was simple to learn and it just became part of his family’s routine.
“The City gave us all the documentation explaining what products can and can’t go in the organics bins,” said Hunter.
“It was all really easy to understand and to follow, it just involves paying a bit of attention.”
The City will be offering a series of presentations and public consultations in the weeks leading up to the program’s launch in April, that will be hosted at Genesis Place, Bert Church Theatre and City Hall at dates that have not yet been determined.
“First we need to gather the results of the surveys and that will help us in putting these presentations and fact sheets together,” said Iverson.
The results of the survey will be posted online at
www.airdrie.ca and more information can be found in FAQ sheets similar to the one published on page six of the Feb. 6 edition of the Airdrie City View.
More information and frequently asked questions can be found at www.airdrie.ca/organics
The survey can be taken at http://fluidsurveys.com/surveys/spollyck/curbside-organics-recycling/
