Saint-Laurent: a community committed to sustainable development

Last updated March 28, 2024
Reading time: 2 min

At its public meeting on June 30, Saint-Laurent Council unveiled the main points of the 2019 report on the Borough’s Residual waste management plan.

Highlights of 2019

  • The landfill diversion rate in Saint-Laurent is 36%.
  • The tonnage of organic waste collected continues to increase, rising from 4061 metric tons in 2018 to 4324 tons in 2019—an increase of 6%. Implemented in 2015, this door-to-door home collection service is available to more than 19,700 housing units. The deployment of an awareness-raising patrol during the summer of 2019 made it possible to meet with nearly 42 % of these homes and to note that 35% of them make good use of their brown bin. This means that nearly 65% still need advice and tips to improve their participation. The Borough has therefore renewed its collaborative efforts with VertCité in order to pursue its awareness-raising actions through—among other ways—the Organic Waste Patrol, which will be set up in early July and will go out to meet residents, while respecting physical distancing measures.
  • 105 metric tons of compost produced in part from the organic waste collected were redistributed to the population. 
  • The tonnage of recyclable materials slipped from 6842 in 2018 to 6751 in 2019. This slight drop of 1.3% can be explained, in part, by the “zero waste” trend that is beginning to spread throughout the community. The concepts of reduction at source and reuse are gaining ground, more and more, in Saint-Laurent households.  
  • The tonnage of recoverable large waste remained stable at 927 metric tonnes in 2019, compared to 924 in 2018. As it may be recalled, these home collections give residents the opportunity to dispose of their bulky waste in a responsible way, due to the fact that these items are recovered and not landfilled. Materials accepted include small appliances, furniture, wood and construction debris. In addition, Saint-Laurent residents are advised to reuse or bring their bulky waste to the Saint-Laurent ecocentre, especially during the moving period. 
  • The tonnage of household waste showed a slight decrease, from 22,551 in 2018 to 22,527 in 2019—a satisfactory result given the 1.9% increase in the number of housing units receiving this service. 
  • The installation of three-stream bins in Parc Painter, at five locations there, provides clearly identified spaces for recyclables, organic waste and garbage. 
     

In conclusion, thanks to the numerous services offered by the Borough to reduce the volume of household waste sent to landfill and to the efforts of its residents to make the most of them, the Saint-Laurent community continues to serve as an example and a model to be followed in terms of responsible waste management.

 ”In 2019, Saint-Laurent’s Administration took several major steps to further improve its sustainable development results and make residents and businesses alike full participants in its actions. For example, in January, Council declared Saint-Laurent a municipal sustainable territory and encouraged Saint-Laurent residents to sign the Eco-citizen’s Commitment. In addition, last October, we organized the Eco-Citizens’ Rendez-Vous, which aimed to provide the entire community with concrete tools to adopt eco-responsible habits on a daily basis and help preserve the environment. Based on the positive results of our latest waste management report, we can collectively congratulate ourselves on the fact that these commitments have been taken seriously!”