Calgary is not on target to achieve its long-range recycling targets without multi-family and organics programs, say two new city reports, recommending the startup of both.
A report to the utilities and environment committee recommends the city implement a multi-family collection program, with the private sector, as early as 2015.
A program to collect organic waste should also begin at the same time, another report to the same committee recommends.
Together, the reports show that despite the introduction of the blue cart recycling program, the city is not on track to meet its goal of diverting 80 per cent of waste away from landfills by 2020.
Much of what’s going to landfills -an estimated 57 per cent of what Calgarians are throwing away -are organics: 22 per cent is yard waste and 35 per cent is food scraps.
"Food and yard waste in the residential waste stream clearly presents the next, most significant opportunity to divert resources from landfills," concludes a report going to the committee Wednesday.
On top of that, there are 158,000 dwellings in Calgary -people who live in apartments and townhouses -that aren’t involved in the blue box program and, not surprisingly, aren’t recycling as much as the 287,000 homes that have curbside recycling pickup.
The city had not planned to start the programs until 2020, but the reports say city hall should act sooner, possibly starting them as early as 2015.
The city has been told by private recyclers that an estimated 20 to 50 per cent of multi-family home dwellers recycle to some extent.
However, it’s believed that 22 per cent of their waste could be recycled instead of going to the dump.
That represents 18,000 tonnes of material that could be diverted from landfills, says the report.
Committee chairman Councillor Ray Jones said he would be in favour of multi-family recycling, but he said private business has to be involved.
"I think we did a dirty deed the way we did it. I don’t think it was fair to the private sector to take all their clients when we went to this recycling citywide. I think they should have been a part of it," he said Friday.
Councillor Jim Stevenson said some private recycling companies have just recently started bringing recycling from apartment buildings to the city’s sorting facility.
He added it could be difficult for the city to pick up recycling from apartment buildings, which sometimes requires different-size trucks.
Jones and Stevenson, who is also a committee member, both said they do not want a third bin on top of the city’s existing blue bins for recycling and black bins for garbage.
"Homeowners are not going to go for a third bin. This would be ridiculous if we go with another bin -people are going to reject it totally," said Stevenson.
Recycling Council of Alberta executive director Christina Seidel said she was thrilled to hear that Calgary could start the programs that other cities launched years ago.
"The sooner they do that, the better," she said.
Seidel said recycling at apartments can be "a little bit more challenging" because residents can be more transient and they have less space than house owners to keep recycling.
But she says Edmonton and Vancouver are able to recycle from multi-family buildings.
"There’s lots of good examples Calgary can look to," she said.
The report recommends choosing one of two options to pick up food and yard waste. One method is to do a staged compost pickup that would run eight months of the year, with pickup every two weeks, and utilizing kraft paper bags. The second option is a separate food and yard waste program that runs all year and has carts and automated trucks.
"A lot of people even complained with the second bin when the black one went in. If we went with a third one, I know residents would get upset. If we could do it with the biodegradable bag system, that I think would work," said Stevenson.
On the multi-family recycling issue, the city is recommending that it develop a recycling strategy during 2012-14 and start as early as 2015.
As for compost, the city recommends an organics recycling pilot program in 2012 and developing a citywide strategy so that it can start between 2015 and 2017.
If the committee goes ahead with the recommendations, staff will then return with more details on cost and implementation.
Calgary Herald
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