5 Steps to Putting Trash in its Place – Summer Event Edition

Posted on July 14, 2018

Summer is here and with it are many outdoor events where you’ll be generating waste. Whether you were at Stampede this week, or you’re going to one of the many festivals around Calgary and beyond throughout the summer, it’s a good idea to know how to decide where to put your waste. Here are five steps to help you with that:

1. Identify your waste receptacles. This might not sound like a big deal, but know where to put your waste starts with knowing where the bin is. If you’re attending an event, as you come in, take a look around and see where they have bins set up and what kind of waste they are collecting.

2. Make your waste plan. This is actually a really quick step. If the event venue is missing a compost bin, for example, what are you doing with your compostables? We recommend having a container in your bag or purse to put that waste into. This way, you can find a receptacle for it elsewhere or back at home.

3. Clean your waste of contamination. Contamination is one of the biggest problems in recycling today, and you might not have even heard of it! This means that you have a non-recycleable material in with your recycling, or landfill garbage in with your compostables. The most obvious example is something like coffee left in your disposable coffee cup. The cup is recycleable but the coffee isn’t. The answer? Separate them! Dump the coffee into the compost bin, pour out juice boxes in the compost bin, remove the lid from coffee cups and put it in the landfill bin, and so on.

4. Put it in the (correct) bin. Now, you’ve come to the last step and you’re putting your waste in the correct bin. But, what if you don’t know what bin it goes in? Well, your best option is to talk to a staff member who’s handling waste, but they might not know the answer either. Your next best option is to look it up on What Goes Where on the City of Calgary website. Though the City’s rules might be a bit different than the event’s, they will be very close. If the web isn’t available, or you’re crunched for time, the best place for waste that you don’t know where it should go is in the landfill garbage. Rather than risk contaminating the rest of the bin, putting waste you aren’t sure about in the garbage is your next best choice. Then, look it up later when you can, and learn for next time where it should go!

5. Pat yourself on the back. Correctly separating our waste might be expected of all of us, but it’s still a learning process. Good work!

Being prepared will lower your impact on the environment and set a good example for those around you! What did you think of these steps? Anything that you do differently? We’d love to hear more about it! Get in touch with us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Until next time, happy summer sorting!