Mysterious data

Posted by Magda
When city officials met with the provincial minister of environment last week, they told him that in 2004, the city diverted 54% of its trash from landfill. They said that was the highest diversion rate in the province, and that the data came from Waste Diversion Ontario.

I looked at the Waste Diversion Ontario website. I found such data for 2006, but nothing for 2004. I talked to two people there and corresponded by email with one -- their executive director -- who said they didn't publish that data for 2004. They did publish diversion rates strictly for recyclables -- so not including Guelph's composting program. Guelph's diversion rate of recyclables was 42.81% in 2004.

In my continued quest for the source of the data, I talked to the city's environment director, who gave the presentation. She told me to talk to the waste manager. He sent me back to the environment director.

He also told me to look in the city budget. There I found the city's diversion rate for 2004 was 53%.

I'm looking for the source of the data because I'm curious which municipalities had diversion rates similar to Guelph's. I'll keep digging and post here if I figure it out.