Blue Cart residential recycling program celebrates 10 years

Calgary – Ten years after the Blue Cart Residential Recycling Program was introduced to households across the city, Calgarians are now recycling and composting more material at home than is sent to landfill for disposal.

“It’s great that Calgarians have been using their blue carts so diligently and successfully this past decade. We’re happy to see that this is now a regular part of the household routine. It makes a big difference in keeping our communities clean and green,” says Sharon Howland, Leader of Program Management, Waste & Recycling Services.

“There is an enormous environmental and social cost to extracting, manufacturing, consuming and disposing of all of these goods. Recycling allows us to put our old packaging back to good use by turning it into something new,” she added.

While Calgarians are using their blue carts to help divert paper, plastic jugs, bottles and food containers, metal food cans and foil, and glass bottles and jars on a weekly basis, there are still some unacceptable materials ending up in blue carts that are better suited for disposal elsewhere. Most exception items like electronics, household batteries and toys can be taken to separate drop-offs or donated to charitable organizations.

If you’re not sure where to put an item, use the What Goes Where online search tool at Calgary.ca/whatgoeswhere.

Recycling at a glance• In the last 10 years Calgarians have recycled over 600 million kilograms of recyclables — enough to fill the Bow Tower skyscraper in downtown Calgary over 8 times!

• Approximately 330,000 households serviced on a weekly basis

• 95% of residents use their blue cart on a regular basis

• The paper recycled in Calgary’s blue cart program saves a million trees a year.

• It takes 95% less energy to recycle tin cans and 70% less energy to recycle plastic containers than to make products from raw materials.

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