Mr. Speaker, since this is International Compost Awareness Week, I want to remind hon. members that composting is a transformation process suitable for all biodegradable residue, whether food, agricultural, industrial or sewage. All these products cannot be easily recycled any other way. These organic materials should not end up in landfill sites because they can cause pollution in the groundwater and also produce methane, which is difficult to control in small landfill sites.
Methane produced this way is 22 times more harmful to the ozone layer than CO2. Therefore it is best to compost on a large scale in composters that fully control greenhouse gases.
In 2002, there were only 35 centralized organic waste composting facilities in Canada. These facilities treat only 10% of all these materials.
If we want to reduce our dependence on landfills, then we must support composting on a very broad scale.