Most homes in Moncton sorting garbage, corporation says

People in Greater Moncton are getting good marks for separating their garbage. The Westmorland-Albert Solid Waste Corporation says more than 85% of homes are sorting their garbage.

These days, workers in the plant are being more meticulous. They're sifting through garbage by hand. The corporation wants to see how well its doing with its own sorting.

Stacy MacAuley, the dry plant manager, says they are trying to improve the efficiency in the plant.

MacAuley says there are still people using black or dark green garbage bags. Those go directly to the landfill site without being opened. She says many recyclable items are being missed because of that.

Marc Doucet, the public relations coordinator for the facility, says public awareness is critical to the plant's success.

But Doucet says the plant also has to make sure it's doing its part.

"The householder puts a lot of effort into separating their waste," he says. "So they separate it correctly into the wet and dry bags and we want to make sure we're recovering everything we can."

The site handles about 120,000 metric tonnes of garbage a year. Residential waste makes up about 45% of that.

Doucet says a report on the plant's progress should be ready next month.