Calgary recycles

[devonb]

Originally Posted by mersar

A lot of the material will be processed fairly quickly, though some things they may just store until the market recovers (the market for recycling is very cyclic, as the largest buyer of bulk quantities of recycled product is China, mostly paper and plastic, and they tend to flip between where they buy quite a lot, but fortunately if you have space you could make a nice profit if you hold on). A lot of the material though from Calgary supposedly will be used by local companies, I recall hearing something about one of the major shingle manufacturers being the destination for a lot of the paper and the metal was destined for somewhere in western Canada as well.

Interestingly, environmentalists are fairly split on the recycling programs in N.A. I was reading that some environmentalists feel we should be burying (essentially storing) plastics until a better process is developed. I guess the pollution from the recycling is pretty huge, not to mention shipping of the materials. There are companies here that recycle and supposedly do it with less pollution, but they can't pay the price that China has been offering.

[shreddog]

dp

[freeweed]

I assume Edmonton's recycling program is nothing like Sherwood Park's. I wouldn't call that the most advanced in anything, except maybe annoyance factor.

[frinkprof]

This is a long time coming. I used to catch grief from some friends and family members about not recycling absolutely all things that I could recycle. To this I would ask how someone without a vehicle can be expected to recycle things like cardboard and milk jugs if it requires dropping off these items at bins that aren't within walking distance, much less while carrying all these things. Nevermind of course the proverbial suburbanite idling their SUV as they drop off their recyclables into the bins.

Interesting to hear about the liquid waste treatment. I knew Calgary had a good system, but I didn't know it was that good.

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by shreddog

Also, I think the 'Chuck also has the most advanced municipal composting program in NA!

So that explains the smell...

[niwell]

Awesome! Is Calgary using the huge truck pick-up blue bins with lids and all? We have those In Toronto, and while they are great they can be a bit obtrusive on small lots. Ours just barely fits in the space between our house and the next one. I wouldn't worry too much about clearance for pickup, since they seem to pick everyones bins up regardless of how they are placed on the street. I guess someone walks ahead of the truch and orients them correctly.

As for for freeweed's question I've seen plenty of errant recycling bins on the rare occasion of strong winds here. The other day with 80km/hr gusts I saw one in the middle of Lansdown Ave (relatively major street) and cars and busses had to swerve around it. The thing would have done some pretty decent damage to any car that hit it. Interesting to see what happens in Calgary where strong winds are quite a bit more common.

[Wooster]

I believe as part of the stimulus request the City of Calgary was requesting money for a major waste to energy generator and other interesting initiatives. pg 14-15 http://www.calgarymayor.ca/files/pressreleases/2009/2009_economic_stimulus.pdf

I'm not sure why the city doesn't just emulate Edmonton's recycling system - if it's the best why not copy it? Is it relatively cost-efficient?

Calgary certainly does have a good reputation in waste and stormwater treatment. I appreciate being able to go in the bow river without getting a rash. It's system is a big reason why the UN bestowed Calgary as the world's "healthiest' city.

[MalcolmTucker]

It is cost-efficient if you have relatively high landfill costs, something Calgary does not have. Diverting waste in Calgary only saves future money, it does not save current money (unlike other systems which use private landfills, not sure what Edmonton uses).

The Waste Diversion Pilot Project said you could divert alot more waste with green bin composting. It is just incredibly expensive (an additional $13 bucks per household per month). The combined waste diversion cost would have been the equivalent of a 25% municipal tax increase on average. It was deemed a tad high especially with water rates increasing to pay for our awesome system (I still believe they build to such a high standard to close loop the system if the Bow starts to go somewhat dry for some months of the year)

Toronto paid for their system with a punitive garbage pricing scheme, and the savings of landfill costs.

[atlas_inc]

In England they call them "Wheely-Bins". hahahaahahaa

[hilman]

Originally Posted by freeweed

I assume Edmonton's recycling program is nothing like Sherwood Park's. I wouldn't call that the most advanced in anything, except maybe annoyance factor.

Sherwood Parks "recycling" program picks up your garbage, recycling and organic/compost waste and sends it to the Edmonton Waste Management Centre. This facility contains the landfill, North Americas largest composting facility, Global Electric and Electronic Processing Inc. (GEEP) recycling facility, landfill gas recovery and a biofuels facility currently being constructed to use the materials not recycled/composted and make it into ethanol. Currently the city diverts around 60% of household waste from the landfill with approximately 90% being diverted once the biofuel facility is operational.

http://www.edmonton.ca/for_residents/Environment/City_recycle_factsheet(web).pdf

http://www.edmonton.ca/for_residents/garbage_recycling/edmonton-waste-management-centre.aspx

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmonton_Composting_Facility



Regards

[entheosfog]

So is this only for single family homes then? Last I'd heard apartments, condos and other multi-unit dwellings are not part of the blue bin thing yet in Calgary...?

[entheosfog]

Originally Posted by frinkprof

This is a long time coming. I used to catch grief from some friends and family members about not recycling absolutely all things that I could recycle. To this I would ask how someone without a vehicle can be expected to recycle things like cardboard and milk jugs if it requires dropping off these items at bins that aren't within walking distance, much less while carrying all these things. Nevermind of course the proverbial suburbanite idling their SUV as they drop off their recyclables into the bins.

Maybe time for an anti-idling by-law as well?

[freeweed]

Originally Posted by entheosfog

So is this only for single family homes then? Last I'd heard apartments, condos and other multi-unit dwellings are not part of the blue bin thing yet in Calgary...?

No-sort recycling presents unique challenges in a multifamily situation. It's coming, though.

Besides, Calgary is mostly single family sprawl, so this gets the bigger piece of the pie first.

[lubicon]

Originally Posted by entheosfog

So is this only for single family homes then? Last I'd heard apartments, condos and other multi-unit dwellings are not part of the blue bin thing yet in Calgary...?

The City should contract this out to private companies (the multi family part). They got royally screwed over by the City with the new recycling program and this would be a win-win situation.

[WeavedWeb]

Originally Posted by entheosfog

Maybe time for an anti-idling by-law as well?

Is it just me, or does it not take more energy to start a car rather than idle it for a minute or two?

[Doug]

Originally Posted by kyle_olsen

It is cost-efficient if you have relatively high landfill costs, something Calgary does not have. Diverting waste in Calgary only saves future money, it does not save current money (unlike other systems which use private landfills, not sure what Edmonton uses).

The Waste Diversion Pilot Project said you could divert alot more waste with green bin composting. It is just incredibly expensive (an additional $13 bucks per household per month). The combined waste diversion cost would have been the equivalent of a 25% municipal tax increase on average. It was deemed a tad high especially with water rates increasing to pay for our awesome system (I still believe they build to such a high standard to close loop the system if the Bow starts to go somewhat dry for some months of the year)

Toronto paid for their system with a punitive garbage pricing scheme, and the savings of landfill costs.

That is why recycling hasn't been a priority in Calgary. Combined, the three exisiting city owned landfills (Spy Hill, East Calgary and Shepard) have several hundred years of capacity. Cities like Edmonton and Toronto were driven to recycling much earlier because their landfills reached capacity and they were unable to develop new landfills because they are landlocked by surrounding municipalities.

[freeweed]

Originally Posted by WeavedWeb

Is it just me, or does it not take more energy to start a car rather than idle it for a minute or two?

It's just you. I think it's a few seconds at most on modern cars although I don't have exact figures at hand.

I don't think anti-idling bylaws are aimed at 30 second idlers, anyway. Mostly it's the people who sit for 15 minutes waiting on a corner to pick someone up. Or leave a running vehicle unattended outside of a store - always a brilliant move.

[You Need A Thneed]

Originally Posted by freeweed

It's just you. I think it's a few seconds at most on modern cars although I don't have exact figures at hand.

I'm pretty sure it's just a few seconds. Maybe even less than that.

Same with light bulbs - some people say that leaving them on uses less power if you are only going to turn it off for a minute. It's not true, the amount of power they use at startup is only about 1/2 second worth of the power it normally uses.

[Rusty van Reddick]

Originally Posted by entheosfog

So is this only for single family homes then? Last I'd heard apartments, condos and other multi-unit dwellings are not part of the blue bin thing yet in Calgary...?

Not exactly- up to fourplexes.

Agree that the private firms should get the multifamily accounts. win-win.

[240glt]

My apartment in Vancouver had bins right in the underground. It made recycling so easy.

I was shocked when I moved to Calgary and my condo not only did not have recycling facilities, but the condo board was against looking into getting recycling services for the building. Calgary's solid waste disposal is clear out of the 60's. Hopfully that is changing. Curbside is a no-brainer IMO. I've had it ever since I bought the house in Edmonton and I love it.