Airdrie will not be instituting a curbside recycling program despite similar programs being implemented in Calgary and Cochrane
Cochrane officially launched its curbside program Aug. 5 and Calgary started its service in spring of 2009, but Airdrie will not be following suit, said Susan Grimm, team leader of the City’s waste and recycling services.
“We assessed the opportunity for curbside recycling in 2009 and decided at that point not to go forward with the program,” said Susan Grimm, team leader of waste and recycling services at the City of Airdrie.
“We have a very high recycling rate at our depots and therefore do not feel the extra cost incurred by curbside service makes much sense.”
According to Grimm, in 2010, the east and westside depots recycled a total of 1,777 metric tons or just over one million kilograms of waste. The eastside recycling depot opened in 1992 and the westside transfer station in the Home Depot parking lot opened in 2010.
She said the cost of curbside recycling was estimated at about $15 per month, per household two years ago. In comparison, Cochrane households pay an additional $6.30 on their utility bills for the service and Calgary residents shell out $8.75 per month.
“People just weren’t willing to pay the extra cost and it is so much harder to monitor contamination,” said Grimm.
In 2007, the City launched a pilot project for organics (grass and leaves) from May to October in Marquee Place and Sagewood. At the time, the cost of the project was estimated at $12 per month per household.
“We did a survey at the time and 90 per cent of the people liked the service but said it would depend on the cost,” she said. “People just weren’t willing to pay.”
According to the Recycling Council of Alberta, grass, leaves and food waste account for 52 per cent of residential waste.
“We feel our time and money would be much better spent diverting that waste from the landfill than picking up the items residents are already recycling on their own,” said Grimm.
She said although the City is not seriously considering curbside recycling now, things could change in the future.
“Whatever we do, we want to make sure it is well thought out,” she said.
“Our Citizen Satisfaction Survey shows that people are very passionate about recycling and it has actually become a family affair with people bringing their kids to the depot and they each have a job.”
