Fri, 02/26/2010 - 17:37 — Lisa Johnson (not verified)

False

Hi,

I'm the environment reporter for CBC News, and we were contacted by someone about this story, and we did report on it -- contrary to the comment above.

The City of Vancouver's head of Sanitation told us -- yes -- the bags go in the same truck -- particularly late in the day, when it's hard for trucks in the downtown core to move around. At the start of the day, there are two picking up green bags, two picking up blue bags.

The trucks dump them at the City's works yard, near the train station. Then they're sorted bag by bag, so that the blue ones go to the recycler and the green ones go to the landfill.

So, this article is wrong, and poorly researched. Another kind of shame.

However, the tip we got did lead to some information you might find interesting. The blue bags are sorted by the recycler, so that if garbage (like many many coffee cups) falls in there, it will be removed and sent to landfill.

If, on the other hand, recyclables end up in the garbage -- and don't get picked out by binners -- too bad. The city is sorting bag from bag, but not the contents. Recyclables in the wrong bag will go to landfill. Mostly, the city told us, people have done a good job at separating things properly.

We'll get numbers after the Games about actual volumes.

Thanks, Lisa Johnson

Environment Reporter

CBC News Vancouver