Landfilling garbage represents a waste of the earth's energy and resources, and is costly for communities that export their waste to distant landfills.

We know that our wasteful consumption habits are not sustainable because there is a limit to the earth’s natural resources. We also know that there are limits to the amount of waste and pollution the earth can absorb or contain.

Markham has set an aggressive 75% diversion target. We are almost there - diverting an amazing 73% of our waste from landfill. We have achieved this success through Mission Green.

The Mission Green plan includes a 3-stream collection system that collects materials in separate ways in order to divert more waste from landfill. This includes:

• A Green Bin Program that encourages participants to put organics (fruit, vegetable scraps, diapers, paper towels, coffee grinds etc.) in a Green Bin for weekly collection.
• An expanded Blue Box Program that accepts materials such as empty paint cans, empty aerosol cans, aluminum food trays/foil and all plastic bottles, containers and jars. Blue Box materials can be mixed together - no more sorting! The recyclables are collected and later separated at a state-of-the-art recycling facility.
• Residual waste is collected every other week - saving money and the environment. Most households only need to put out one bag!

Maintaining a heightened level of awareness will help us reach our community environmental goals. Thanks to your participation Markham is a leader in waste reduction.

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