Green Calgary

Recycling

 
The City of Calgary introduced Blue Cart recycling in 2009 for single family homes up to and including fourplexes. Blue Cart has significantly increased the amount of material that is being recycled. In 2010, The City collected over 70,000 tonnes of recyclable material from blue carts and the community recycling depots located throughout Calgary. That's close to double what was recycled before the carts were in place.

The following recyclable materials are accepted in blue carts and community recycling depots:

  • paper and cardboard
  • metal food cans and foil
  • glass bottles and jars
  • plastics with a recycling symbol #1-7
  • beverage containers

The most common non-recyclable items showing up in carts are the following:

  • Stryofoam
  • Scrap metal
  • Electronics
  • Propane tanks
  • Helium tanks
  • Mixed materials (such as frozen juice containers)

For more information, visit www.calgary.ca/bluecart.
To see how the Blue Cart recyclables materials are sorted, visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rnfcAY6DUFA


There are many opportunities in Calgary for recycling. The City of Calgary has many recycling depots located all around the city. Or, you can hire a curbside pick-up company to pick up your recylables. Hazardous Waste needs to be handled seperately.

How to Pack a Litterless Lunch

It has been estimated that on average a school-age child using a disposable lunch generates 67 pounds of waste per school year. That equates to 18,760 pounds of lunch waste per year for just one average-size elementary school. Tips on How to Pack Litterless Lunches Do include:

  • Sandwiches or salads in reusable containers
  • Whole fruits without packaging
  • Drinks in reusable containers
  • Snacks purchased in bulk and brought in reusable containers
  • Cloth napkins and reusable spoons and forks
  • Take compostable materials home or set up vermicomposter or composters in the school

Don’t include:

  • Individually wrapped items
  • Plastic baggies that are not reusable
  • Disposable forks and spoons
  • Straws
  • Paper bags
  • Paper napkins

Simple steps for starting a litterless lunch program or project at your school:

  1. For the first day of the program collect all lunch waste from your class or school. After gathering all of the waste weigh it and record this number.
  2. For the second day, ask students to bring a waste-free or litterless lunch. Gather the waste again if there is any and record and compare the results. You can calculate how much waste on average is generated for the whole school and how much could be eliminated if everyone brought a litterless lunch every day.
  3. Schools can submit your daily or yearly results to Green Calgary and we will calculate the greenhouse gas emission savings that your school has eliminated by bringing waste-less lunches. Email info@greencalgary.org for GHG calculations.