Calgary recycling behind in the times

New residents of Calgary may be surprised to find out that the first curb side recycling program was introduced in April 2009, servicing only 300,000 single unit homes in the city.

There is also an eight dollar charge for residents who receive the service, with no opt out to the program. The monthly Blue Cart charge appears on the household’s City of Calgary (ENMAX) utility bill.

Blair Riddle, a communications supervisor for the City of Calgary's waste and recycling services says the eight dollar charge found on residents ENMAX bill is “so that the program is able to sustain itself.”

“It’s completely supported by the monthly charge to the households that receive the service, says Riddle. “Also the cost is offset somewhat by revenues of recyclables themselves.”
The program excludes those living in properties with more than four units.

“The council essentially directed us to serve the single family sector, [leaving] the multi-family population open to the private sector to approach them first, if by 2020 there are no significant inroads then it would be opened up to expansion.”

Comparing the program to other cities in the country leaves a lot of room for improvement.

The city of Hamilton, for example, has no deposit on recyclables, and has offered no fee services to single family as well as multi-family complexes since the 90’s.

Toronto, with an estimated population of 2.6 million is one of North America’s leading cities for recycling and waste management. In 2008 the city diverted a total of 388,188 metric tonnes of residential waste from landfills through various recycling programs.

The City of Toronto collection bylaw contains an ‘all-or-nothing’ policy, whereby a building must participate fully in all programs, including recycling, in order to have its garbage collected by the City.

In Ontario under regulation 103/94 it states that owners of multi-unit residential buildings with six or more units must have recycling programs in place.

Peter Aitchison is resident of a seven unit apartment building in Calgary, who grew up in the township of Mono, Ontario, population 7,100. He says for as long as he can remember there has been recycling in Mono.

“When I moved to Calgary five years ago, I could not believe they didn’t recycle,” says Aitchison.
Before moving to Calgary, Aitchison lived in Toronto with five other people in one house, and he recounts only ever having one bag of garbage per week because of the city’s expansive recycling program. But that is not the case for Aitchison any longer.

“Literally my dining room is a landfill of cans and milk crates,” says Aitchison. “My roommate hates the fact that there are bottles everywhere, it’s disgusting; it makes me want to throw them in the garbage.”

“If [Calgary] would just say ‘let’s just adopt another similar cities recycling program’ it would be great.”