A greatly expanded recycling program in all Delta schools has meant the school district is now diverting much of its waste from the landfill.
At the start of the last school year the district initiated a big shift in the way waste is handled. Garbage cans were removed from classrooms and offices, replaced with central receptacles that require students and staff to sort their waste into cans and bottles, other recyclables, paper products, organics and other waste.
In 2006, Metro Vancouver voted in favour of adopting a zero waste philosophy. In 2009, it launched the Zero Waste Challenge that outlined a goal of 70 per cent waste diversion from landfills. As a result of the school district's expanded recycling program, it has now nearly reached that target.
Prior to the expanded recycling program, 87 per cent of waste collected from Delta schools went to the landfill, a figure that has now been reduced to just 31 per cent.
The goal is to increase that number to as close to 100 per cent as possible.
