recycling & waste management
How Calgarians can go beyond the “three-R’s” in 2013.
reducing your waste this
holiday season
Electronic waste Why you should berecycling your e-waste
Better business How your waste can save you money
December 2012
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recycling in Calga-ry has become pret-ty easy, especially for those with blue carts and residents are joining in to do their part. In the big
picture, it’s important to remember why diverting materials from dispo-sal is important!
First and foremost, diverting ma-terials helps us to conserve resour-ces. Making something from raw materials is very energy intensive. Mining the earth for minerals, har-vesting wood from the forest and ex-tracting all types of materials takes energy and it doesn’t stop there. On-ce materials are extracted, they still need to be processed until they be-come the actual material we want to make an end product from. By diver-ting materials destined for landfills, we decrease demand for raw mate-rials. Whether it’s reducing, reusing or recycling, these are all important steps to reducing our environmental footprint.
Lucky for Calgarians, it’s easy to be green during the holidays! Re-al Christmas trees can be recyc-led as easily as taking out the trash. You simply have to leave your bare Christmas tree out for pick-up af-ter January 8th. There are also drop off locations throughout the city. By participating, Calgarians will help divert nearly 40,000 trees from the
landfill. These trees are then reused as mulch that is available to resi-dents free of charge.
Other holiday materials like wrap-ping paper, boxes, bags, bows, ribbon and string can all be saved and reu-sed. If you’ve got some wrapping pa-per that’s looking a little worse for wear, you can also recycle it!
If you receive any new electronics over the holidays, think twice befo-
re you ditch that old TV into the gar-bage. E-waste, like old TVs and com-puters, contain chemicals and heavy metals that can harm the environ-ment, but also contain valuable ma-terials that can be recycled into new products. Instead of tossing them, you can donate or take your end-of-life e-waste to an electronics recyc-ling drop-off location.
The City also recently rolled out the Green Cart Pilot program to col-lect organic waste. Pilot communi-ties have been able to reduce waste by 44%! Over one million kilograms of compostable waste have been col-lected already. As many avid com-posters already know, there is no need to wait for Green Cart service; backyard composting and grasscyc-ling are great ways to reduce organic waste. Not only is it easy, but leaving grass clippings on your lawn and using compost in landscaping and gardening will return valuable nu-trients to the soil.
It’s clear that implementing these programs has been helpful in redu-
cing the amount of waste Calgarians send to landfills, but these programs only look at one piece of the puzzle. Residential waste makes up 24% of the total waste going to the landfill. So where does the rest come from? It comes from two areas: construction and demolition (27%) and industrial, commercial and institutional (49%). Reducing waste from these areas can have a huge impact. If you prac-tice the three Rs at home, why not in the workplace? In addition to con-serving resources, these practices can help your business save money.
As always, the best way to redu-ce our impact and send less mate-rial to disposal is by purchasing du-rable, long-lasting goods with mini-mal packaging only when we need them, reusing as many materials as possible, recycling things when we need to and only throwing things away when there is no other option.
Vanessa hanel
rEcycliNg & WAstE mANAgEmENt5tH EditioN, dEcEmBEr 2012
Responsible for this issue:Publisher: Matt [email protected]: Adam [email protected]
Contributors: Jori Baum, Vanessa Hanel, Andrew Seale
Managing Director: Jon [email protected] Developer: Ash [email protected]
Distributed within:Calgary Herald, December 2012
This section was created by Mediaplanetand did not involve Calgary Herald orits Editorial Departments.
All photos from istockphoto.com unless otherwise credited.
challenges
recycling in calgary
wishing you a “waste less” holiday!
ICI: Taking recycling beyond the home
Refining our methods: Innovation in oil recycling
pAgE 04
pAgE 06
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WE RECOMMEND
what’s a m o r e j o y f u l t i m e of year t h a n Christ-
mas? Our community becomes one of sharing, giving, laughter, and ge-nerosity, and many people become touched with the spirit of the sea-son. What is not so joyful about the holidays however, is the amount of waste generated. Our holiday season often becomes a season of excess, from thousands of lights trimming homes to pounds of wrapping paper used on gifts. The eco-footprint of our holiday season substantial and that makes it a gre-at time to look at how we’re hand-ling our waste and find for ways re-
duce, reuse, and recycle!
Libations!There are just certain foods and drinks that we have to wait all year to enjoy – eggnog, stuffing, Christ-mas cake and cookies! Unfortuna-tely, even on a regular day, unwan-ted leftovers at home account for about half the food wasted across Canada, according to the Ontario-based Value Chain Management Centre (VCMC). Organic waste in the landfill cannot decompose pro-perly and ends up contributing to methane gas production – a ve-ry potent greenhouse gas. We can do our part to reduce this impact by limiting the amount of food we purchase and prepare to what will get eaten. If you have leftovers, freeze them for another day and
make sure to compost anything that’s headed for the trash.
Buy local, buy smartA lot of energy and resources go into making the consumer goods that are purchased in abundance during the holidays. Be conscientious of where your gifts are made, how far they have travelled, and what materials they are made from Try to shop locally, purcha-se items that are vintage or upcycled, or best of all, gift items that are ho-memade by you. Also, try organizing a gift exchange to reduce the amount of goods in circulation and make sure to
give loved ones things they need and will use.
Wrapping, cards & decorationsReduce the amount of wrapping you use – choose reusable alternatives such as gift bags or cloth wrapping. You can also use homemade or reu-sable wrapping options for your gifts. If you receive gifts wrapped in pa-per, try folding and saving the wrap for next year, or if you need to – make sure to recycle it! Same goes for holi-day cards and decorations –thrift sto-res are bursting with unused cards, lights, wreaths, stockings, etc. Use them as is or get creative and make them your own (upcycling!). If you are buying new wrapping, cards or decorations, think about where the items came from and whether or not
they’re made from recycled materials.
Christmas TreesFake or fresh, that is always the ques-tion. Although a fake tree may last you a longer time, they are often ma-ke from petroleum-based materials and their off-gassing can lead to po-or indoor air quality and long term health effects. Once you are finished with a fake tree, it cannot be recycled and will end up in the landfill where it will never break down. Although fresh trees use energy and resources to grow, they make up for it as carbon sinks throughout the year. Your best options are to find a company that rents potted trees for the holidays or to purchase your own potted tree to use year after year.
JORI Baum
Jori BaumHealthy Homes Advisor, green calgary
Vanessa Haneloutreach coordinator,recycling council of Alberta
Learn how you and your family can reduce waste this season, lessening your consump-tion of natural resources and keeping potentially harmful materials out of the ecosystem.
AN iNdEpENdENt sEctioN By mEdiAplANEt to tHE cAlgAry HErAldAN iNdEpENdENt sEctioN By mEdiAplANEt to tHE cAlgAry HErAld dEcEmBEr 2012 · 3
insight
wh e t h e r y o u ’ r e s c o p i n g out flat s c r e e n s at a Box-ing Day
sale or getting that tablet you wan-ted as a gift, don’t forget about your old electronics says Brad Schultz – director of the Alberta Recycling Ma-nagement Authority.
“People sit on their old electronics, they think there’s some value in that so they don’t want to part ways with it,” says Schultz adding that the iro-nic part is, “they need to remember that when they purchased that old electronic they paid a recycling fee on it.” And there’s a reason for the fee.
“As a consumer purchases a lap-
top he has to pay a $1.20 recycling fee that ends up in our lap,” says Schultz. “And we (in turn) pay processors to go to all the collection sites regis-tered with us in the province and gather up the material (to break down and recycle).”
Since Alberta became Canada’s first province to put in an electronics recycling program in 2004, Albertans have recycled almost five million units of computer equipment and televisions – preventing hazardous materials such as lead, mercury or cadmium found in circuit boards or cathode ray tubes out of the landfills. According to ARMA, that’s 1.48 milli-on computers, 890,000 printers, 1.39 million monitors and 1.02 million TVs diverted from landfills. “Prior to the program coming aboard, 99 per-cent of this stuff was entering the
waste stream into landfills covered up with dirt,” says Schultz.
But it took turning a close eye to what was ending up in landfills to realize the sheer volume of commo-dities that make up these compo-nents going to waste like tin, metal, plastic, copper, and gold. “And we re-alized if there’s processors out there willing to take this workload on and draw out the commodities – it’s a no brainer,” adds Schultz. “Why would you allow this material to enter the waste stream?”
Of the millions of units dismant-led since the program began, pro-cessors have recovered into 87,640 metric tonnes of metal, plastic and glass that has been shipped into the marketplace for manufacturing into new products. Not to mention hazar-dous waste that has been kept out of
landfills and disposed properly. “In the back of the laptop screen there’s mercury tubes in there so that is ob-viously a hazard and needs to be dis-posed of properly,” says Schultz.
So what qualifies?Televisons (anything with digital displays), computers, tablets, prin-ters, speakers, mics, keyboards – can all be disposed of. Schultz says AR-MA has partnered with municipali-ties to make sure most landfills or re-cycling facilities have an electronics drop-off.
“We ran into some roadblocks be-cause there’s the odd folks out the-re who aren’t registered for the pro-gram,” says Schultz referring to the series of news articles highlighting the exploitation of children and low-paid workers in third world countri-
es processing electronics in unsafe conditions.
“When you participate within this program there’s a very lengthy series of conditions and terms that have to be met to access the funding that will pay out,” adds Schultz. “Alber-tans can feel comfortable when they pay a recycling fee that it’s being dis-posed of properly.” But challenges aside, Schultz is confident the pro-gram will pick up steam. “Our cap-ture rate is around 35 percent,” says Schultz. “We’re hoping we can push that up considerably.” And with re-cycling fees at $10.00 for big screen TV’s over 30 inches – maybe it’s time to recycle that old TV with the empty fishbowl on it.
ANDREW SEALE
e-waste recycling: how to responsibly dispose of your old electronics
Technotrash Alberta is an approved processor of waste electronics. We offer a free service for the
recycling of electronics.
Technotrash doesn’t ship outside North America and destroys all data devices onsite...
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inspiration
Diversion for indu-strial, commer-cial and institu-tional (ICI) was-te presents a ve-ry serious chal-lenge to Alber-
ta. According to a survey done for the city of Calgary in 2010, ICI ac-counts for 50 percent of the waste in landfills. “In Alberta you don’t have to recycle if you don’t want to – every business has a choice,” says Lauren Minuk – a green work-place consultant at Green Calga-ry. But there are many recycling programs that have environmen-tal, social and economic benefits. She suspects businesses might be more engaged if they knew more about the programs available. “It’s about getting people to use the programs at their disposal,” she says.
William Partridge, president and CSO of the Building Owners and Managers Association (BO-MA) of Calgary, says it’s the sa-me challenges faced by large re-sidential buildings. “The greatest challenges reside with changing human behavior,” says Partrid-
ge. “Tenants need to better un-derstand that the waste reduction and recycling decisions begin at the time of purchase.” Partridge says that in some cases, sustaina-bility-related responsibilities are in the lease. “We are beginning to see more environmental langua-ge being worked into (these) cont-racts – there are clauses in these ‘green leases’ with implications for both landlord and tenant,” he adds.
Minuk also points out tipping fees associated with recycling versus land filling as something that can save a business in the long run. “The tipping fees for recycling are cheaper,” she says. “And there are some recyclables you can get money back for.” She points to cardboard, which has a fluctuating market value but can yield a return.
Where to startMinuk points out that many bu-sinesses already have a recycling program. “Talk to your existing provider and see what services they have,” she says adding that, for example, some cardboard recy-
clers have a plastics program. “Use the programs you have already to their maximum,” says Minuk. You could also do a waste assessment or hire a consultancy to do one for your business or residential area. “Look through a days worth of garbage and see what’s in it,” she says.
Although every business or building is different, it will give you a better idea of what areas you may need programs in place for. Minuk also recommends setting up a “green team” in the workpla-ce.
“It’s something many people are passionate about,” says Mi-nuk. It also is an inexpensive way to get the dialogue going on how to build a more sustainable work-place.
Green pointsPartridge also points to the mar-keting value of doing things mo-re sustainably. “There is a cul-tural shift underway in Canada and consumers will increasingly be seeking buildings which ha-ve well-developed environmental programs,” says Partridge. BOMA
ici: taking recycling beyond the home
IN 2005, WHEN WE FIRST STARTED IN BUSINESS, WE RECYCLED ABOUT 1500 KGS OF ORGANICS A MONTH. LAST YEAR WE KEPT OVER
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of organics out of the landfill( THAT’s like taking 76 cars off the road for a year )
THANK YOU AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL OF OUR AMAZING CUSTOMERS WHO WENT OVER AND ABOVE
TO KEEP CALGARY BEAUTIFUL AND GREEN. WWW.CALGARYRECYCLES.COM403.369.3777
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the sustainability certification
also has a program called Building Environmental Standards (BESt) that offers a 4-level certification for existing buildings that meet the pre-determined energy and environmental standards.
Minuk says certifications like Leadership in Energy and Envi-ronmental Design (LEED) and BO-
MA BESt can also draw in poten-tial clients or residents for busi-nesses.
“A lot of businesses can benefit form that good marketing story,” she adds.
andRew seale
STRATEGIC GROUPSTRATEGIC
Being green is Strategic
Our Strategically Green program helps us identify building improvements, new technology and social initiatives aimed at taking better care of our environment, the earth’s resources and each other.
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Putting Strategically Green into practice
As part of Strategically Green, we’ve implemented a number of initiatives to help reduce the environmental impact in all of our operations, from redevelopment and construction to the day-to-day management of our properties.
Learn more at strategicgroup.ca
AN iNdEpENdENt sEctioN By mEdiAplANEt to tHE cAlgAry HErAldAN iNdEpENdENt sEctioN By mEdiAplANEt to tHE cAlgAry HErAld dEcEmBEr 2012 · 5
www.eccorecycling.comRecycling Construction and Demolition Waste
Reducing Calgary’s carbon footprint by:
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INTRODUCING NORTH AMERICA’S NEWEST AND MOST ADVANCED MATERIALS RECYCLING FACILITY
news
Better building: construction and demolition recycling
construction and demolition can be a dirty job, but a growing amount of buil-ders are finding ways to create
new life from waste.“Where traditionally we ha-
ve just pulled (waste) off to land-fill, it’s really thinking and going beyond what you can do with that material and give it a new life or a new purpose,” says Tanya Doran, the executive director of Alberta’s chapter of the Canada Green Buil-ding Council.
Construction and demolition waste accounts for nearly 20% (by weight) of the total amount of municipal solid waste landfilled in Calgary, says Brian Ng, a waste management engineer with the city of Calgary’s Waste and Recyc-ling services. “Diverting C&D was-
te will reduce the consumption of natural resources, reduce green-house gas (GHG) emission, reduce Calgary’s overall environmental footprint, and preserve landfill ca-pacity,” says Ng.
Building the right waySystems like the Leadership in Energy and Environmental De-sign (LEED) certification also help to drive waste diversion. “Having the LEED rating system in pla-ce really gets public and private infrastructures thinking beyond their building, how it gets con-structed and the processes that are used,” adds Doran. For con-struction waste management, a builder can earn 1 point towards LEED for recycling and salvaging 50 percent of their building. 75 percent earns them 2 points. “In Alberta we’re consistently seeing those two points received,” says
Doran. But it’s not just certifica-tion that many green builders are after – diverting waste and recy-cling/reuse also carry some enti-cing economic benefits, adds Ng.
“There are already economic in-centives in place for some of the-se materials, which recycling is a cheaper option than landfilling,” he adds. The current tipping fee for basic sanitary waste in Calgary is $98 per tonne – with plans to hit $102 in 2013. That’s not taking in-to account if the load contains any amount of “designated materials” — like concrete, brick and mason-ry block, road asphalt and asphalt shingles, and scrap metals.
If it does — it’ll be charged at the Designated Materials Rate of $140 per tonne ($145 in 2013). The rate difference is to discourage landfil-ling of these materials and encou-rage recycling instead.
But what gets recycled?“Everything from cardboard in the packaging that comes on si-te, metal, brick, mineral, fiber pa-nel, concrete, plastic clean wood, glass, carpet, insulation – anyth-ing to that effect,” she adds.
If the materials are sorted, most facilities will take wood, drywall, asphalt shingles and cardboard for a lesser fee. “This serves as an incentive for customers to consi-der recycling as an alternative to [landfilling] for these materials,” he adds. Doran points out there are companies tapping into the waste reuse side of things, like an architectural warehouse in Calga-ry that pulls material from buil-dings for resale. “(They) recognize that this is a business opportuni-ty,” she adds.
andRew seale
Construction and demolition recycling is becoming easier than ever. Learn how you can start conserving valuable materials and saving money on your next project.
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Calgary Facility 6715 Ogden Dale Road, Calgary Mon-Fri: 7am - 4pm, Closed Weekends & Holidays Gate rate: $62.00 per metric Tonne NWGR supplies documentation to the LEED certification board confirming that all drywall waste entering our facility is being 100% recycled
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Did you know Drywall is 100% recyclable?
RECYCLING TIPS
Construction and demoli-tion waste accounts for a large chunk of Calgary’s Landfill capacity; howe-ver, much of this waste can be diverted and recycled. When you next approach your site’s waste heap, look for the following recyclable materials:
■■ Concrete■■ Brick and Masonry Block■■ Asphalt and Asphalt Shingles■■ Metal■■ Wood■■ Drywall■■ Cardboard
All of these materials can be recyc-led and great many of them will be accepted for a reduced tipping fee. Don’t stop there either; recycling your project’s waste is only half the battle. Seek out recycled materials and building supplies to use at the start of your next project too.
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insight
refining our methods: innovation in oil recycling
if unforeseen oil spills and acci-dents are any indicator, the ef-fects of mismanaged oil on the environment are both detrimen-tal and long term. As a hazardous material, it’s important that oil is discarded safely – one litre of used
oil can contaminate one million lit-res of fresh water.
But continued innovation in oil re-refining technology coup-led with extended producer re-sponsibility has made it pos-sible to bring new life to a pre-viously used resource.“One of the advantages of used oil – which is a hazardous material –
(is that) as hazardous as it may be, it can still be reused and re-cycled,” says Roger Jackson, ex-ecutive director of the Alberta Used Oil Management Associa-tion – an organization which hit its 1 billion litres of reused oil milestone in 2011. Be it oil from discarded motor oil containers to filters from automobiles – there are many ways to reuse
the precious resource.Since 1997, the AUOMA has re-
covered and recycled nearly 90 million used oil filters and over 20 million kg of used plastic oil containers. “The filters are crushed – with the oil coming out of it – so they can be ship-ped better,” says Jackson adding that the filters are sent to scrap dealers who mix it with other metals to remake into industri-al products such as rebar. “You can get up to 10 percent of volu-me in filters.”
After being thoroughly wash-ed, plastic containers are crus-
hed or shredded and can be tur-ned into virgin plastics, fence posts, railway ties or other in-dustrial products.
But what happens to the oil recovered?“It can be used as a burner fu-el… a popular use in industrial burners and asphalt burners,” says Jackson, adding that that’s where about half of the oil re-covered by AUOMA ends up fin-ding new life. “More and mo-re of it is being used in re-refi-ned or upgraded material,” says Jackson. However, large-scale
re-refineries aren’t common-place, yet. “Most provinces with the exception of B.C. or Onta-rio don’t have one so it has to be shipped,” says Jackson.
You don’t need to be a massive corporation with the transpor-tation infrastructure to recycle your used oil though. There are numerous collection services and 360 year-round collection points to drop off your empty oil containers, old filters and used oil in Calgary and Alberta.
ANDREW SEALE
Roger JacksonExecutive director,AUomA
BILLION1.2 LITRES
of USED OIL
5MILLIONCOMPUTERS&TVs
70 MILLION
TIRES
23MILLION
of PLASTIC OIL CONTAINERSKILO’S
MILLIONLITRES of PAINT
96OIL FILTERSMILLION
MILLION
CANSPAINT AEROSOL1.455MILLIONMILLION
COMPUTERSCOMPUTERS
23MILLIONKILO’S
MILLIONLITRES of PAINTLITRES of PAINT
CANS
70 TIRES
One New Year’s resolution that won’t be hard to keep.
Albertans have already resolved to do the right thing every day and recycle. In fact, we’re some of the best in the world at it... year after year. We know, that as the season of giving, opening and enjoying nears, you’ll continue to do the right thing and regift, reuse, or recycle. It’s a gift to the environment that keeps on giving.
www.albertarecycling.ca1-866-414-1510 (toll-free)
Keep up the good work Alberta!
www.usedoilrecycling.com 1-888-990-1122 (toll-free)
that won’t be hard to keep.
![Online Holiday Sales Season [Tips]](https://static.documents.pub/doc/80x56/58e5f9a21a28ab09478b552b/online-holiday-sales-season-tips.jpg)
