Future Of Waste In Edmonton

Last week the company I work for took a few employees that were interested in the local waste management facility to a tour.

We spent a couple of hours in the Edmonton Waste Management Centre where all Edmonton waste comes after being picked up in our back alleys and from the eco-stations located all over the city.

I have to say I was not shocked by seeing enormous waste piles - Edmonton is Alberta's capital city with almost a million people.

I was more affected by the helplessness I felt from that moment on. We all have to buy groceries, supplies, electronics, and so on. How are we to reduce the waste if the goal of today's economy is mainly based on consumption?

Not many people recycle voluntarily because it's simpler to stick your head in the sand and pretend somebody will deal with the consequences later.

I think the people that separate the waste are mostly the ones that have encountered this process somewhere else. In Europe, where I spent more than twenty years, we had waste separation enforced quite a while ago and although it was not accepted well it turned out to be a well functioning system. I think the same process is happening now in Edmonton and no matter how much we resist there is no way out of it.

I admit I didn't do a lot to separating of the waste here in Canada because I didn't have to and because I felt all the waste will go to the same place anyway and be separated there.

This holds true in some cases but definitely not to the extent I imagined.

The waste we put in the blue bags will be sorted out to be recycled. The plastic, glass, and paper waste mostly. Also metal cans for canned food and pop cans.

All the waste that we put in black bags will not be recycled because it is considered as "contaminated". Only organics will be sorted out and be sent to the composting facility, but the rest of the waste from the black bag (including recyclable plastic and paper, etc.) will automatically be loaded onto trucks and shipped off to the landfill.

Here are a few photos from the E-waste section:

What makes things even more complicated is that not all plastic is recyclable. The multilayer plastic like plastic ketchup bottles and plastic coated paper cups from most of the coffee shops around the city can never be recycled. Styrofoam is useless when it comes to recycling as well.

This issue is not something we can easily fix at home only and it is too bad. Some products simply don't give us a choice between plastic and glass packaging and if we do have a choice we pick the cheaper option anyway (which is 99% of the time the plastic). I am not very optimistic in that area.

Let's move to the brighter side (without thinking about all the taxpayer money that will be used for the whole Future of Waste Campaign).

On the last weeks' tour of the Edmonton Waste Management Centre, I learned about the WasteWise App. I downloaded it on my phone the same day and have used it since. It has a feature that tells you where the waste item belongs if you type it in the search box. I was not sure for many items myself like kitty litter and styrofoam egg boxes but always felt lazy looking it up online. No more confusion for me.

What I learned on the tour was that all the organics that are sorted out in the facility are composted. The old composting building is old and in need of shutdown so the center opened a brand new Anaerobic Digestion Facility which will: "..enable the City to process up to 48,000 tonnes of organic waste per year and divert it from landfill, create renewable energy in the form of electricity and heat, produce high-quality compost for use in agriculture and horticulture, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and remove odours created during the process by using bio-filters."
Source

Today I filled out a survey by the City of Edmonton which is gathering information and feedback from its residents. It took me a few minutes to go through and from what I've read in the survey, many changes are coming our way in the near future.

I think changes will cause big confusion and lots of people won't like it.

The City of Edmonton is proposing four options which you can see below.

As expected, there are already numerous critics about every solution the City presented. Not an easy choice and everybody seems to be upset with all the options. Why change?!

From further reading on the web and all the comments on social media, I've noticed many people mainly blame the City and the bigger corporations.

Here are a few comments:

"Why is the onus always on us? Go after the companies that package the products. They use excessive amounts of packaging. Get off my butt and get after them."

"It's a given that if this Mayor and a majority of Council AND City Administration are involved, the only solution will be a tax hike for property owners. Seriously considering getting out of this town."

On the other hand, I noticed some positive feedback too:

"100% on-board and thank you City of Edmonton for asking for us to be involved! Good habits start and learned at home. It is on us as Albertans to help make these changes. We ALL have waste, residents, and businesses and therefore WE ARE ALL RESPONSIBLE to play a part in making these changes. Offering FREE workshops on composting (like I’ve attended) and recycling and ways that families can make it fun & free to learn, are great ideas."

I understand that changes are not always pleasant but hopefully, the small steps will be taken and people will realize how important the issue is. If you don't believe me, you can check it out yourself by visiting the waste management facility in your area.

I admit I did not try my best so far and I understand each and every one of you if you are still struggling with new ideas about waste management. Our busy lives sometimes make us feel that thinking about which waste goes to which bag is the last thing we want to do. I will try my best and I hope my family members will follow my example.

Hopefully, I didn't make your weekend any more stressful and pessimistic. I was trying to be as objective and factual as possible and didn't mean to attack anybody with this post.

I wish a wonderful Thanksgiving Weekend to everyone in Canada and to the rest of you, enjoy the weekend as well :)