District of Muskoka reports 65% resident participation in the new clear bag program
District of Muskoka staff announced 65% of residents are participating in the new clear bag program, in the April 1, 2025, Bracebridge General Committee meeting.
In their waste management update they indicated that previously more than half of resident garbage “didn’t need to take up landfill space.”
They added, “It’s increasing expenses for all [tax] rate payers in Muskoka,” in addition to creating greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
According to their report, 46.5% of all food in Canada is wasted, with 41.7% that could have been redirected, and 124.5 billion pounds of GHG is created annually from it, which is the equivalent of 17.3 million cars.
Staff advised that when food waste is included in garbage at the landfill “it won’t decompose because it’s not receiving enough oxygen. This is one of the reasons they launched the clear bag program last month, in addition to conserving the landfill capacity, reducing diversion, and worker safety.
So far, the community response has mostly been positive to the new clear bag program, with 65% of resident participation reported by staff, resulting in a 49% reduction in garbage collected at the curb, and 58% of it going to organics.
Staff said that organics are being removed from garbage and into green bins “where they belong.”
They’ve received 806 resident requests for green bins from February to mid March and announced that soon all curbside pickups will have access to green bins. They will also be expanding services to 4,829 residential units by the second quarter.
Room for public improvement includes materials being put in the Blue Box recycling, which are reported as containing 8% organics, 21% garbage, and 71% recycling.
Staff added that the District is in the process of working on their Master Plan for future waste diversion over the next 30 years. The plan involves three phases, including completing an assessment of the area’s initial status over the past year, seeking community feedback this year (starting next month) about moving forward, and how they will reach targets, which will begin at the end of this year until June 2026.
Councillor, Don Smith, admitted that he was initially skeptical about the clear bag program, however the statistics proved differently than he expected.
Mayor, Rick Maloney, inquired about what the District’s response will be to the current declaration of emergency due to the ice storm with residents facing power outages and downed trees, resulting in more waste.
Staff advised that transfer stations are available for tree waste, food waste can go into green bins (except uncooked meat products), and there are still limits on solid waste, however, they will re-visit waste limits for clean up.
