Those special garbage, composting and recycling bins that everyone is seeing at the Canada Winter Games venues are also intended to show the rest of the country how everyday items can be diverted from landfills and put to good use.

Johanna Smith heads up the Environmental Services Committee and she has over 50 volunteers on the Green Team. The goal is to collect 60 per cent of the generated wastes as compost and recyclables.

The first day of the system for the Athletes' Village, where they served 6,000 meals for 1,800 people, may have produced results beyond the original expectations.

Those meals ended up as 25 bags of compost, 14 bags of recyclables and one bag of garbage.

While Whitehorse residents have practiced recycling, composting and landfill diversion out of their homes for many years, the new bins, purchased in partnership with the City of Whitehorse , will be a Games legacy asset that will benefit residents for years to come.