Living in Alberta

[Johnny]

Don't get me wrong, I like the place and it's going in the right direction, but it takes us back to the original post; most provinces were doing this stuff 20 years ago, Alberta wasn't.

Edmonton......curbside since 1988.

http://www.edmonton.ca/portal/server.pt/ga...ueMarch2003.pdf

[Financial Guy]

I've got a bag in the garage that I fill with beer cans, wine bottles and juice containers. I drop that off at the Bottle Depot and collect my $9 and have lunch at McDonald's

Steam,

You're going to lose your medical if you don't stop going to McDonald's. There's 33 grams of fat in a Big Mac.

Just kidding, Steam, I'm a sucker for a Big Mac Combo every once in a while..... I'm also a sucker for beer and wine a little more often -like daily.

[Steam Driven]

"They" say a glass of red wine a day is supposed to have health benefits! I think moderation is the key, including moderation!

Cheers!

[wingjockey]

Are you guys serious .. five bags of garbage a week. Here in Halifax I might put out one bag of garbage a month. We have the most comprehensive composting program in Canada. Along with that and the recycling done weekly ( and yes they can be taken and exchanged for money if you so desire) at the curbside we have reduced the amount going into landfills by over 60%. On top of that the city sells the compost to the gardeners and uses it in the local parks. compliance is at over 80%. We have groups coming from as far away as Japan to study our system. However, we do still have a problem with the Tim's cups. No answer yet but we're working on it. I find it a little depressing to hear that Alberta figures that people won't comply so why bother. What kind of attitude is that?

[Kip Powick]

Just saw on CTV tonight that portions of Toronto allow 6 bags of garbage, "free", and folks are supposed to pay $1.00/per bag over that. A TV crew followed a garbage truck for awhile and at one residence they picked up close to 30 bags, (spring cleaning?), and the truckers didn't charge for the excess. Apparently Toronto politicians want to limit their residents garbage to 4 bags max and one has to pay $1.00 per bag over the four bags.

M'God, here in Smallville we have a limit of one container/bag per residence and that costs $2.00, there are no freebies.....and "extra" is definitely not picked up......but we do have a good recycle program.....and the recycle DOES NOT go to a landfill. If you have "extra" you must take it to the "Works" yard, pay $2.00 a bag and can leave it there.

We also do not have a problem with folks dumping on the side of roads etc...but I must admit we did, for a while, when the rules changed from unlimited to one bag. The cops laid down the law and "dumpers" were fined quite heavily.

I'm no "Save a Whale-Tree Hugger" but I think that in this case "less" is good.

[Guest rattler]

for my part I want to limit the size of p;ower boats and their engines...... Talk about harming the environment.... Wind power for ever!

[ccairspace]

for my part I want to limit the size of p;ower boats and their engines...... Talk about harming the environment.... Wind power for ever!

Of course, that conjured up the early morning thought... I wonder what kind of diet one would need to generate enough wind to power a boat...?

[Kip Powick]

Of course, that conjured up the early morning thought... I wonder what kind of diet one would need to generate enough wind to power a boat...?

and this from an earlier post by you.(ccairspace)

Try this link and see if you can figure out how Kip's brain works

And you wonder about my thought process

[Spinnaker]

Spinnaker is not quite accurate. Following is the official story and as you can see it is about limits set during spring cleanup, nowhere does it say anything about the average being 5 bags per house.

Date: Mon Apr 5 08:58:08 2004

Subject: 'Spring cleaning’'garbage limits may be in effect

From: Bonnie Tucker

-----BEGIN MD5 -----------------------------------

-----------------------------------------------------------------

CITYSOURCE - CITY OF CALGARY NEWS SOURCE

-----------------------------------------------------------------

CALGARY - The arrival of spring brings the onset of yard

clean-up for many Calgarians. And that means heavy garbage

volumes for The City of Calgary Waste & Recycling Services

collection crews.

That's why Waste & Recycling Services will be exercising an

'as-needed' five bag or can limit on the amount of garbage

collected per household throughout the spring.

The five bag or can limit will be used to ensure that a

weekly collection service is provided to each household and

to maintain collection schedules. Similar to the fall

period, when similar restrictions apply, the focus will be on

removing household waste first and any yard waste as time

permits or over subsequent collection periods.

Waste & Recycling Services implemented a similar five bag

limit last spring in response to heavy garbage volumes

following the Easter long weekend. The unusually warm

temperatures and extended weekend resulted in a concentration

of yard clean-up waste that went beyond the capabilities of

Waste & Recycling Services’ resources. In the event of a

similar situation, the five bag or can limit would apply.

"During this period, residents who produce more than five

bags or cans are asked to place their regular household

garbage out in front of any yard waste. Making it easy to

access will ensure that it gets picked up, and won’t be left

behind causing potential odor issues," says Rick Valdarchi of

Waste & Recycling Services.

Keeping your garbage area clean and tidy is another way to

help the collectors move swiftly and efficiently through

their routes. Residents are also reminded that the maximum

weight limit for bags or cans is 20 kg.

Residents are also encouraged to turn their yard waste into

useable compost with a backyard composter. Watch for further

information on our subsidized backyard composter sales event

in June.

For the real poop on Calgary Garbage you can goto:YYC Garbage Collection

Oh quit talking garbage already

Sorry rattler, and thanks for the story. I had heard the bag limit on a radio station a few weeks ago and it was certainly not reported that way at the time.

[Guest rattler]

I promise, no more trash talk....

[deicer]

I promise, no more trash talk....

One must agree though, that this is a first for talking trash on this board....

It's a constructive, environmentally correct conversation

Iceman

[ccairspace]

And you wonder about my thought process

Believe me Kip, at times, this ol' brain barely processes at all. And the sad fact is that it usually works best early in the morning!

[newgirl]

Wingjockey

I think one bag a month is fantastic . Congrats !

Here we recycle all the Xmas trees but the mulch is free for anyone.

As someone else stated there is no limit to how many bags can be set out but with weekly pickup a normal household a has on average 1-3 bags per week.

Also we have a Gov. sponsored popcans/plastic bottles , glass liguor bottles , tetras etc for which we get paid for. Some of the less fortunate have daily routes winter and summer combing the public trash cans and they can make up to 50.00 a day in returns. It's sad and I'm thankful I don't have to do that but you never ever see any plastic pop containers lying around.

My question is what happens to your sewage? Here in the land locked prairies we have sewage lagoons for water purification etc . I am assuming the days of dumping sewage into the ocean is well past and you have sewage plants also.

[Guest rattler]

Hey rattler.

I've lived everywhere but 3 provinces, compared to everyone else, Alberta's recycling sucks, in my opinion of course. If you don't make it easy, it all goes to the same landfill.

Ontario feeling blue about faltering recycling program

April Lindgren

CanWest News Service

Saturday, September 09, 2006

TORONTO -- Ontario is considering a new deposit return system for empty wine and alcohol bottles, but new research suggests the measure will only partially address problems with the province's much-touted blue box recycling program.

"The premier has wanted to do this for a long time and has been telling us to get it done," a senior government source said Thursday of the proposed initiative, which would require shoppers to pay a deposit when they purchase LCBO products and then collect their deposit when they return empties to The Beer Store.

The plan is in response to the huge numbers of empty wine and alcohol bottles that still end up in Ontario garbage dumps 25 years after the province's blue box recycling program went into operation. Earlier this week, Ontario's environmental commissioner reported that while deposit-return systems such as the one in place for beer bottles results in recycling rates of 90 per cent or more, only 20 per cent of LCBO bottles are turned into new bottles through the blue box regime. The rest are either landfilled in a province that is beset with garbage disposal problems or ground up for gravel substitutes, something the commissioner characterized as "barely above landfill."

But the failings of the blue box are not confined to just wine and alcohol bottles, according to an extensive analysis of beverage container recycling programs across Canada obtained by CanWest News Service.

"The blue box program is about half as effective in recovering (beverage) containers as any deposit return system," said recycling expert Clarissa Morawski, who produced the soon-to-be-released report with funding from the governments of Alberta, Quebec, Nova Scotia and several private-sector firms.

While Ontario and Manitoba have blue box systems in place, most other provinces have deposit returns for everything from glass and plastic drink bottles to aluminum cans and aseptic (Tetra Pak) boxes. The results are startling.

In Ontario, for instance, only 63 per cent of glass bottles, 43 per cent of aluminum cans, 54 per cent of plastic drink bottles and 13 per cent of aseptic boxes are recycled. And that is for the residential sector only.

"The blue box system is a system for people with homes only," Morawski said in an interview. "But that's not where we consume a lot of beverage containers. More than 50 per cent of plastic bottles are consumed away from home, and we don't have a proper system in place (in Ontario) to recover those bottles" so most are ending up in landfill.

Her other research suggests Ontario's plastic bottle recycling rate is probably as low as 35 per cent in an era when people are consuming millions of bottles of water, soft drinks and juices.

In British Columbia, by comparison, where there is an extensive deposit-return system, 72 per cent of plastic drink bottles are recycled as well as 87 per cent of glass bottles including wine and alcohol empties, 87 per cent of aluminum cans and 56 per cent of aseptic containers.

Other provinces with extensive deposit-return programs have similarly successful recycling rates including:

*Alberta, where 79 per cent of glass drink bottles, 85 per cent of aluminum cans, 70 per cent of plastic bottles and 57 per cent of aseptic containers are recycled.

* Quebec, where 76 per cent of aluminum cans are recovered, 76 per cent of glass drink containers and 74 per cent of plastic bottles are recycled. Wine and liquor bottles and aseptic containers are not part of the deposit-return regime.

* Saskatchewan, where 95 per cent of aluminum cans are recovered as well as 89 per cent of glass beverage bottles, 86 per cent of plastic bottles and 56 per cent of aseptic containers.

A source familiar with Ontario's blue box program said he expects the governing Liberals would run into major political problems - from retailers who don't want to accept empties and from the beverage industry - if they tried to extend the deposit return regime beyond LCBO bottles.

"Today, Ontario has a law that says brand manufacturers pick up only 50 per cent of the cost of the blue box while municipalities pay the rest," he said. "So they pay 50 per cent of the cost of what gets recycled and if you have low recycling rates, your costs are low.

"With a deposit-return system where people will be incented to collect containers (to recover the deposit), industry would be expected to pick up 100 per cent of the cost. That would be a pretty big cost compared to the existing system."

[newgirl]

In Sask. we have various types of recycling.

1. Sarcan which will take cans, platic bottles. tetras, milk cartons both types plastic and waxpaper. beer and alcohol glass or plastic bottles. Payment varies from .05 to .25 cents. This is run by the Prov. Govt as it supplies jobs to mentally challanged people. As far as I know it has always showed a profit.

2. Private companies who will pick up plastics , cardboards. newspapers, glass, metals etc. $67.00 a year for twice monthly curb pickups.- Cheap.

3. City provided dumpsters at various locations in the city for those who don't want to pay but like to recycle.

4. Beer bottle return where the bottles go directly back to the beer companies.

It works well in our community. Most people here try to recycle. Besides we pay an enviromental tax when we buy plastics so this way we get our money back.

I visited a friend in Vancouver this summer and her condo complex has set up recycling bins by the garbage cans. The recycling bins were full.

Many hotels/motels in the west all have recycling recepticles in the room and it seems strange when they are not supplied.

Either you're into or not just like people who won't pick up the poop after their dog in the public parks. Man that annoys me!

Just my 2cents worth but we make about $50.00 every 2 months on recycling of pop cans etc.

[Seeker]

....we make about $50.00 every 2 months on recycling of pop cans etc.

I don't think you're actually "making" the $50.00 since you're paying the deposit on each bottle when you buy it, right? You're actually just getting your own money back, at least that's the way I think it works.

[Guest rattler]

That is indeed the way it works in Alberta also but the money returned is money that would be lost if one did not take the empties back so you are in effect getting paid. Just like the money the gov. doles out, it does originate in your own pocket.

No extra effort, all you need to do is to load up your car and stop at the bottle depot on one of your normal trips to do shopping. Same for the voluntary recycling bins around the city, or for the drop off sites for hazardous materials or those that accept (all no charge) electronics for recycling.

Since you are doing this during one of your normal trips, there is no added pollution from your vehicle as there would be if the service was curbside and supported by a fleet of trucks.

[Spinnaker]

That is indeed the way it works in Alberta also but the money returned is money that would be lost if one did not take the empties back so you are in effect getting paid.  Just like the money the gov. doles out, it does originate in your own pocket. 

No extra effort, all you need to do is to load up your car and stop at the bottle depot on one of your normal trips to do shopping.  Same for the voluntary recycling bins around the city, or for the drop off sites for hazardous materials or those that accept (all no charge) electronics for recycling.

Since you are doing this during one of your normal trips, there is no added pollution from your vehicle as there would be if the service was curbside and supported by a fleet of trucks. 

It's still limited because you've can't take plastics back unless you pay for a service like Greenway Recycling. They will take everything that the depot's do not... but that's Alberta, less tax but user pay.

On another note. You can go to the GVRD Landfill and see them sorting and organizing the waste. They will even turn the methane gas produced in to energy sold to surrounding sources. I've been to the Calgary dump 4 times this summer with 100% compostable material from landscaping the backyard. When I show up, they charge me the same 5 bucks they do for the guy dumping old insulation. You can also watch people dump there 100% recyclable materials in an open field because the Calgary Dump will allow it. Cardboard, newspaper, wood, anything goes... it's a$$ backwards and redneck but that's Alberta!

[ccairspace]

.. it's a$$ backwards and redneck but that's Alberta!

Not everywhere. Some Alberta communities have great recycling depots. Airdrie,

Turner Valley and other communities even recycle # 1, 2 and 5 grade plastic. #1: those clear plastic containers that strawberries and blueberries come in; #2: bleach bottles, detergeant bottles etc.; and #5: yoghurt, margarine, cottage cheese tubs etc. As well, you can take plastic lids for recycle. That in addition to all paper products, glass, metal, cardboard, any type of milk container, electronic equipment, batteries, paints etc. and all compostable materials. In this community, undamaged styrofoam egg cartons can be left for reuse. Of course, any container that included a deposit goes back to the bottle depot.

All in all, the only things that hit the community dump out of this household are food waste that shouldn't be composted in the back garden, bathroom waste, garden waste that is "buggy" and plastic and styrofoam packaging. That usually amounts to one green garbage bag a month.

I have no complaint about the availability of recycling facilities.

[Spinnaker]

Not everywhere. Some Alberta communities have great recycling depots. Airdrie,

Turner Valley and other communities even recycle # 1, 2 and 5 grade plastic. #1: those clear plastic containers that strawberries and blueberries come in; #2: bleach bottles, detergeant bottles etc.; and #5: yoghurt, margarine, cottage cheese tubs etc. As well, you can take plastic lids for recycle. That in addition to all paper products, glass, metal, cardboard, any type of milk container, electronic equipment, batteries, paints etc. and all compostable materials. In this community, undamaged styrofoam egg cartons can be left for reuse. Of course, any container that included a deposit goes back to the bottle depot.

All in all, the only things that hit the community dump out of this household are food waste that shouldn't be composted in the back garden, bathroom waste, garden waste that is "buggy" and plastic and styrofoam packaging. That usually amounts to one green garbage bag a month.

I have no complaint about the availability of recycling facilities.

Sorry, should have specified Calgary. Fort Mcloed has a lot of Wind Power Generation too. However, It's crazy that a City obsessed with its money and oil wealth is the least environmental of any other.

[ccairspace]

It's crazy that a City obsessed with its money and oil wealth is the least environmental of any other.

I agree, And what is stranger is that it is the only large city in Alberta that still allows smoking in public places...

[Guest rattler]

I agree, And what is stranger is that it is the only large city in Alberta that still allows smoking in public places...

Stranger yet that anyone still smokes considering the overwhelming proof that it will kill you.

[Guest rattler]

It's still limited because you've can't take plastics back unless you pay for a service like Greenway Recycling. They will take everything that the depot's do not... but that's Alberta, less tax but user pay.

On another note. You can go to the GVRD Landfill and see them sorting and organizing the waste. They will even turn the methane gas produced in to energy sold to surrounding sources. I've been to the Calgary dump 4 times this summer with 100% compostable material from landscaping the backyard. When I show up, they charge me the same 5 bucks they do for the guy dumping old insulation. You can also watch people dump there 100% recyclable materials in an open field because the Calgary Dump will allow it. Cardboard, newspaper, wood, anything goes... it's a$$ backwards and redneck but that's Alberta!

The bottle depots do take plastic containers (bottles, jugs) that you have paid a deposit on. Plastic milk continers are accepted at the same locations that you take your paper & tins for recycling. The problem with all dumps in Canada is that if you are willing to pay the fee, they will take whatever you want to dispose of. Most with no sortation except for Hazardous materials.

Plastic beverage and non-beverage generation and recovery in Canada

Recovery of plastic bottles in Canadian provinces varies dramatically based on the

bottle type. In 2002, 235,086 tonnes of plastic bottles were generated and about

84,744 tonnes were recovered and recycled based on available data. This is a

recovery rate of 36%.

Alberta ranks 2nd in Canada after BC. BC recovers 49% of their plastic items and Alberta recovers 45%.

http://www.solidwastemag.com/PostedDocumen...0in%20canada%22

As far as compostable items, the folowing tip is from the GVRD Landfill page.

Backyard composting

Studies show that more than 40 per cent of what we send to the landfill is organic waste. Much of this can be composted, taking up less space in landfills, helping improve regional air quality and producing excellent soil conditioner.

Adding compost to lawns and gardens helps them retain moisture, requiring less watering. Applying compost to your lawn will also protect it, reducing the need for pesticides, which are harmful to the environment.

And things are evolving, yes even in Calgary.

Calgary RFPs

Related ItemsArticles                                                                             

Composting Systems/Components

Infrastructure

Recycling Equipment & Services

The City of Calgary has recently posted 3 RFPs related to the upcoming curbside organics and recyclables collection and processing programs. Organics diversion specialists will be interested in Proposal No. 06-6819: Processing of Organics for the City of Calgary.

There is a requirement for proponents to attend a Pre-proposal Meeting on August 31, 2006 at 09:30 Hours, Calgary Time.

For details contact:

Purchasing Agent: Barry Wong

Phone: 403-268-2894

Fax: 403-268-6971

Email: barry.wong@calgary.ca

To get copies of the Proposal Documents, contact:

Margaret Robertson

Phone: 403-268-2958

(8 am to Noon, 1 to 4:30 pm, Monday through Friday)

Email: margaret.robertson@calgary.ca

[Airband]

I agree, And what is stranger is that it is the only large city in Alberta that still allows smoking in public places...

Time for ceiling panel paintings in smoking lobbies?

[Guest rattler]

Love it!