I don’t intend to pick on Westmount since every community on the island probably has a similarly large ecological footprint.

Westmount's Ecological footprint is the red, outer-most border

Nevertheless, it is just amazing when you look at the map above. The BLUE border is the physical size of Westmount. The RED border is the ecological footprint, or the size of the Earth’s resources it devours. The GREEN border represents the “ideal ecological footprint” according to some academic (see the full research here).

What’s the #1 source of this enormous ecological footprint? WASTE with 59% of the entire footprint! Waste has to be carried far away by gas powered vehicles and then stored in a place that takes space away from farms, towns and other productive spaces.

So, the #1 way to reduce your ecological footprint is to Compost! Yea, compost! It’s easy, it’s fun and you get empowered in the face of this ecological train-wreck called “modern, western life.”

This is great news, if it ever gets implemented. At least the money is there. Now, local NIMBY opposition must be overcome. This is local, sustainable thinking at a state level. Bravo!

Source: Montreal Gazette

On Monday, Ottawa and Quebec gave $215.1 million to Montreal, Laval, Longueuil and the South Shore regional municipality to build compost treatment centres. Montreal Island municipalities will add another $79.9 million for its centres, while Laval will kick in $56.9 million.

The question now is where the facilities will be built…

As for the Montreal Island, Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay launched a preemptive strike against “not-in-my-back-yard”-ism Monday by reminding suburban mayors and Montreal city councillors that four potential sites were identified in the island-wide waste-management plan, which the agglomeration council unanimously adopted last summer. It called for four compost-treatment centres, two in the centre of the island, and one each in the west and east ends.

Tremblay said that towns and boroughs have until June to submit potential sites in industrial areas for four compost treatment centres – two closed facilities that will convert garbage into biogas and compost, and two semi-closed facilities that will create only compost.

Construction could begin in 2011, with all centres up and running by 2014, said city spokeswoman Valérie de Gagné. The first to be built will be located in the central part of the island, she said. Montreal will also set up a sorting facility in the centre of the island where regular garbage will be taken in order to remove any recyclable or organic materials before it goes to a landfill site.

“The challenge is going to be to convince people to use a brown bin,” Tremblay said, adding that it took years for people to get used to sorting recyclable materials out of their garbage. “We have no choice – we have to go ahead with this.”

Here’s a great idea for anyone who has been interested in reducing their household waste through composting (the process of transforming organic kitchen waste into rich earth soil).

Household waste that can be composted currently accounts for 30% of all waste that ends up in land fills or incinerators.

Compost Montreal is an organization that collects your compost for $5.00 a week and delivers it to a composting site managed by the Montreal Department of Parks and Horticulture. You get your very own compost bucket, and Compost Montreal will collect it from your front porch. This organization also provides members with finished compost in the spring so you can reap what you toss!

If you’re new to composting and aren’t sure how it works, or how it will smell in your house, they will teach you everything you need to know.

Compost Montreal currently serves the following communities: St. Henri, the Plateau, N.D.G., Outremont, Mile-End, Rosemont, and Hochelaga-Maisonneuve.

Research Credit: McGill Daily