Toronto's green bin program hits snag

Toronto's compost-collection program has raised a stink in London, Ont.

Waste treatment company Orgaworld, based in London, normally takes a quarter of Toronto's green bin material. But it has been forced to shut down for two months to stem the unusually foul smell affecting the local community lately.

Toronto civic staff are trying to find other places to send the city's organic waste.

So far, the city has a solution for the next two weeks of green bin collection, said Geoff Rathbone, general manager of solid waste management services.

"We have four other process facilities around the province, and in fact one right here within the city of Toronto, so we're asking all of our other processors to ramp up, work weekends, ramp up the amount of material that they can process in an attempt to spread out this displaced material and have it actually composted," Rathbone said.

Torontonians produce 110,000 tonnes a year of green bin material.

The city may be forced to send some of the organic waste to a landfill if it can't find another compost facility to take it in two weeks, Rathbone said.