CALGARY- A pilot project that has many Calgarians recycling their organic waste is proving so successful that the city wants to build a composting facility as soon as possible.
On Wednesday, the city’s waste and recycling team will show a committee how successful the green cart program has been, and encourage the city to move forward with a city-wide program.
“I think the most exciting part of what is happening in Calgary is residents are asking for this,” says councillor Gael Macleod. “We haven’t been pushing it…and people are saying ‘when are you getting this ready?’”
When left in landfills, organic waste creates harmful greenhouse gases, but when harvested properly they can create a revenue stream.
“That becomes a resource every bit as much as those recyclables we collect out of the blue cart,” says David Griffiths, director of city waste and recycling.
The city is looking for someone to partner with, and wants to own the compost facility to allow for expansion as the program includes multi-family and commercial applications. Macleod says 17 different companies have expressed an interest in being a part of the program so far.
“I think that’s absolutely fabulous that we get that level of interest from the private sector, and we are able to partner,” she adds. “This is a great way of going forward, it’s a win-win for everybody.”
The city is looking to open a facility at the Shepard landfill by 2016.
With files from Doug Vaessen
Comments