Simcoe County's Organic Waste Program Gains Ground

A county-wide expansion is diverting tonnes of food waste from landfills each week — and keeping raccoons out of the garbage room

When the bags of food scraps started splitting open in the garbage room of a Bradford condominium, it was, as resident Julie Minicucci puts it, "just a disaster."

That's changed. The 16-unit building now participates in Simcoe County's multi-residential organics collection program, and Minicucci and her neighbour Mary Borthwick — who together help coordinate waste collection in the building — estimate roughly 90 per cent of residents are separating their food scraps. The locking green carts have tidied up the garbage room and, as a bonus, kept rats and raccoons at a distance.

"It helps a lot," Minicucci said.

Their building was among the first to join what began as a pilot project. Now, the county is scaling up fast.

A quiet expansion, by the numbers

In May, Simcoe County rolled out its organics collection program beyond the original pilot, onboarding 49 multi-residential properties representing 1,959 units in a single month. Staff also delivered 13 on-site information sessions for residents and property managers. Combined with the 15 properties already participating since the pilot launched in May 2024, the program now covers 64 properties and 2,574 units.

That's significant, because municipalities in Ontario are not legally required to offer organics pickup to buildings with six or more units — meaning most of that food waste would otherwise end up in landfill.

Based on audit data from the pilot, each unit generates about 0.92 kilograms of organic waste per week, with a contamination rate of just 1.4 per cent. Do the math on current enrollment and the program could be diverting roughly 2.37 tonnes of organic material from landfill every week.

Why landfill is the wrong place for food scraps

When organic material decomposes in a landfill, it does so without oxygen, light, or the microbes that drive healthy decomposition. The result is methane — a greenhouse gas 25 to 80 times more potent than carbon dioxide, according to Laura Barrett, the county's solid waste collections manager.

Keeping organics out of landfill doesn't just reduce emissions. "By separating organics we are producing a beneficial soil amendment that can be used in gardens and farm fields," Barrett said, "thereby reducing alternative fertilizer needs and capturing carbon."

How it works on the ground

Each participating unit receives a starter kit: a small kitchen bin, compostable bags, educational materials, and a coupon for $2 off a future box of bags. At the building level, the county supplies green carts — sized to the number of units — which are placed in a central location alongside regular garbage. Residents deposit their bagged scraps into shared bins, which are then transferred to the green carts on collection day.

For Minicucci and Borthwick's building, that means nine communal bins feeding into four green carts, picked up every Thursday.

What's coming next

The momentum isn't slowing. Another 86 properties totalling 3,394 units have already applied and are working through the enrollment process. Four additional properties with 673 units have opted to arrange private organics collection independently.

County staff estimate there are roughly 380 eligible multi-residential properties with about 9,600 units across Simcoe County. After accounting for those enrolled, applied, or collecting privately, around 226 properties with nearly 3,000 units remain untapped.

Costs for the expanded program haven't been finalized — they'll depend on total enrollment — but a report from last year projected implementation costs of $23,000 to $116,000, with annual operating costs ranging from $25,000 to $125,000.

"We encourage all residents to use their green cart, help keep organics out of the garbage and, as a result, create compost that is beneficial for food production," Barrett said.

Further details are available on the County of Simcoe's website. The program does not extend to the cities of Barrie or Orillia, which operate separately.