Organic material patrol: A personal touch when it comes to organic waste

Jean-Sébastien Ranger takes a small square of paper out of his bag and drops it into the mailbox of a Saint-Laurent home on St. Aubin St. The slip has all the information to contact the Eco-Quartier Saint-Laurent with any questions about brown bin pick-up.

“Maybe two-thirds of the time, people aren’t home,” he says. Ranger is part of the three-person Patrouille Matières organiques that goes door-to-door in the borough to find out how the organic waste pickup program—that started for 18,000 residents in one-to-four unit buildings in Oct. 2015—is coming along. The program will expand to five-to-eight unit homes (about 1,500 bins) this autumn.

When someone opens the door to Ranger, wearing a brown Eco-Quartier t-shirt and a smile, it’s a chance for residents to share their concerns, questions and comments with someone face-to-face.

“If they have any problems, I can offer them tips on how to fix it,” explained Ranger, who loves the social aspect of the job and being outdoors. The patrol often works on foot and on bicycle.

Common concerns are odours, undesirable animals and—my own worst nightmare—maggots. Of the five homes who opened their door to us on Thursday, two people mentioned the wrigglers.

And that’s just what the patrol is there for. Ranger explained to the homes that usually the worms come from meat, and the best solution is to freeze those scraps until collection day, which happens once a week. Residents can also use salt a little salt and vinegar in their bin to kill them.

If odour is your problem, the patrol recommends simple, household baking soda, “just like in your fridge,” he explained. You can also wrap your scraps in newspaper before tossing them in the bin (like les Nouvelles Saint-Laurent, after reading it, of course).

Questions and Comments

“Mostly the feedback is good,” said Ranger, and that was basically the result of our little walk down the block. One resident even called the collection “perfect.”

The patrol is about sensitizing the population to the new compost system and fielding questions and concerns. After visiting a home, the patroller fills out an electronic form rating the resident’s satisfaction with the service and logging any comments. The information is used to create reports that are periodically delivered to the borough.

The patrol’s mandate is to inform and help residents, not to monitor the actual compost. There exists, however, a list of problematic bins to be followed up on.

A lot can go in the bins: meats, soiled paper, green waste and more. No-nos are items are plastic bags, including biodegradable ones, cigarette butts and things like cat litter.

Soil from the pickup is distributed twice per year at the Public Works department.

For more of what should and should not go in bins, or any questions about organic waste collection in St. Laurent, call 514-855-6212 or visit vertcite.ca