Waste Diversion Ontario Announces Improvements to Leading Residential Waste Database

New System Tested by 11 Ontario Municipalities

TORONTO, Feb. 11, 2014 /CNW/ - Waste Diversion Ontario (WDO) today announced completion of the project to redesign the Municipal Datacall reporting system, one of North America's top sources of information for data and trends on Ontario's residential garbage. The Datacall is an annual recycling report card that helps municipalities to measure their progress with local initiatives to keep residential waste out of landfills.

The improved Datacall system is more user-friendly and less time-consuming for all municipalities that report residential waste statistics to WDO. It will also provide more accurate data, allow for more consistent reporting among municipalities, provide updated material definitions, and allow municipalities to directly access their own current and historical data to facilitate local waste management budgeting and planning.

The new system will enable WDO to gather better data from all participating municipalities that would help with performance projections for residential waste programs.

"The Municipal Datacall is a valuable, one-stop resource that can be mined over and over again for important and relevant information," said Michael Scott, CEO, Waste Diversion Ontario. "We hope that the changes will make the Datacall more accessible to the people who use it, allowing us to gather data that more accurately reflects Ontario's record on residential recycling."

Earlier this year, 11 municipalities participated in the testing of the improved Municipal Datacall, including: Baldwin Township, Brant County, Carleton Place, Essex-Windsor, Fort Frances, Kawartha Lakes, Mississippi Mills, Niagara Region, Peterborough, Toronto, and York Region.

"We appreciate the time invested by these municipalities in helping us to verify that the changes have streamlined the system for those who input the data every year," said Scott. "We are offering training and other support to Datacall users to ensure a smooth transition to the new system."

Each year, WDO requires municipalities to complete the Municipal Datacall to be eligible for the next year's Blue Box funding. In addition to information about Blue Box materials, WDO asks municipalities to submit tonnage data for all other waste materials the municipality oversees, including organics, hazardous or special waste, electrical and electronic equipment, organics, garbage, and other materials. WDO uses this data to determine residential waste diversion rates for each municipality, municipal grouping and the province overall.

In 2012, reports were submitted under WDO's annual Municipal Datacall by 230 municipal programs, recycling associations and First Nations, representing over 400 municipalities. The 2013 Municipal Datacall was initiated yesterday with a deadline of Friday, April 25 to submit 2013 statistics.

Waste Diversion Ontario (www.wdo.ca) is the not-for-profit organization funded by industry that oversees Ontario's current recycling programs for electrical and electronic equipment ("e-waste"), used tires, Blue Box material, and hazardous or special waste.

SOURCE: Waste Diversion Ontario

Julie Kwiecinski
[email protected]; 416.226.3252 (office); 416.550.1995 (cell)