The municipality has reduced the amount of garbage it sends to the landfill, but more efforts are needed.
The idea of the waste audit is to see how much garbage the municipality is keeping out of the landfill and what future plans should be made to reduce it even further.
Fourteen bags of household garbage were examined and once all of the recyclable materials in them were taken out, the amount was just five bags.
The report says plastics and compost items could be eliminated from household garbage if recycling programs were expanded.
Bruce Davidson of the Environmental Advisory Committee and the Landfill Committee says in the bags examined, they found a considerable amount of box board, toilet paper rolls, and metal can lids, all of which are recyclable.
He says all of those little items add up to a lot.
Diapers and pet waste, such as cat litter also make up a significant amount.
Davidson says existing recycling opportunities need to be maximized and a look has to be taken at recycling more items.
Davidson says complacency only leads to larger amounts of waste that should be diverted instead.
Davidson says it’s often difficult for people who live in apartements to be able to recycle all of the items that can go in the blue box.
A styrofoam recycling depot at the landfill collects a full trailer load every three weeks.
Electronic waste has also been banned from the landfill and is collected through a recycling depot instead.
Councillor Chris Peabody says it will be difficult to expand blue box collection of recyclable items in near future because of serious budget constraints at the Bruce Area Solid Waste Recycling Association (BASWRA).
Commodity prices for recyclable items have dropped sharply or disappeared altogether in recent months, leaving the association with less money.
Davidson says the price bottom has literally fallen out of the market but municipalities need to look at the other costs and consequences associated with sending waste to landfills instead.
Peabody says the waste audit is a road map for future waste diversion efforts in Brockton.
Davidson says in the next step of the waste audit, they want to focus on the commercial sector and find ways businesses in Brockton could reduce the amount of garbage they send to the landfill.
