After consultations, drafts and final adoption of the Solid Waste Action Plan (SWAP), Bryna Cable, the city's environmental co-ordinator, is saying "the real work begins now.”

In an interview Tuesday, following city council's adoption of the plan with an ambitious goal of a landfill diversion rate of 50 per cent by 2015, Cable said the plan that's been years in the making will now be implemented.

"We really want to see this as a beginning,” she said.

Meetings among city staff about how to go about the implementation have already begun.

Along with a unanimous vote in favour of the plan, council also approved spending $50,000 from its general reserve on implementing the plan.

It was apparent in council's unanimous vote that the time has come to put a plan into action that will drastically cut the amount of waste going into the landfill.

The plan focused on partnerships in the community.

It will target keeping cardboard, wood waste and organic materials out of the landfill with a number of proposed programs the city plans to start phasing in this fall to hit that 50 per cent target by 2015.

Among them will be the collection of organic substances at multi-residential housing developments.

"We're very keen on offering this,” Cable said.

The city currently does compost pick-up every two weeks as part of its service to those on the city service (mainly single-detached and duplex homes).

However, it's the private sector that does garbage pick-up for multi-residential homes (apartments, condos, mobile home parks and the like).

Cable noted that the private sector has expressed an interest in providing that service, but needs it to be economical – and that's where the city comes in.

The city will get things started beginning in the fall by selecting some multi-residential units on already established city compost collection routes.

That way, it won't initially take a lot of additional resources to pilot the program. As time goes on, and the bugs are worked out, more areas will be added.

It's expected the private sector would eventually take over the collection of organic materials at multi-residential properties, Cable said.

On Tuesday, as part of its tour of the waste management facility, the city showcased the new compost sorting equipment purchased earlier this year.

This is one area the $50,000 that was approved along with the plan will go to.

There are other initiatives and an education campaign that will all be part of the effort.

There are also eventual plans for waste and organic materials collection from rural residential areas and enhanced recycling collection to businesses offered by the private sector.

"Getting to 50 per cent waste diversion is critical to prolonging the city's landfill,” acting city manager Brian Crist said in a statement Tuesday.

"What we've learned is the faster we fill, the bigger the bill. The SWAP not only protects the environment, but also the city's long-term financial health.”

There are no set diversion rate deadlines ahead of 2015 to gauge if the city is getting closer to its goal.

However, both Cable and Shannon Clohosey, the city's manager of environmental sustainability, stressed there are goals that will help reach the 50 per cent diversion rate.

"We do have milestones,” Clohosey said.

One of them will be having cardboard become a "controlled substance” at the landfill, she pointed out.

In other words, she said, there will eventually be a fine if cardboard is found to be mixed into regular commercial waste.

It's not expected there will be any major changes this year to the approximately 20 per cent diversion rate that is occurring now.

Clohosey said she anticipates the major difference will be seen in 2014, after many of the initiatives under the plan get underway.