Tell me about Edmonton’s position as a leader in waste management.
Edmonton started a curbside recycling program in 1988, and has grown into a national leader in sustainable waste management. We have 3 streams of waste management: recyclables go to the Materials Recovery Facility; garbage goes to the Edmonton Composting Facility; and household hazardous waste is taken to an Eco Station.
At the moment, 60 percent of our residential waste is diverted from the landfill, but new and improved facilities will enable Edmonton to divert 90 percent of waste by 2013. The Edmonton Waste Management Centre is North America’s largest collection of modern, sustainable waste procession and research facilities, and offers guided tours for groups interested in learning more. More than 10,000 students and several 100 national and international visitors from industry and government visit the site each year. Check out the links below for more info.
The City of Edmonton also belongs to the Edmonton Waste Management Centre of Excellence, a project focused on providing services in sustainable waste management. The centre provides research and technology development, education and training, and advisory management services.
Our dedication to sustainability has gotten us noticed in the rest of the world. In 2009 Corporate Knights Magazine named Edmonton Canada’s most sustainable large city, and in 2010, they recognized us as the second most sustainable large city in Canada and the third most sustainable city overall for the magazine’s Most Sustainable Cities in Canada list.
Edmonton cares about the impact our waste has on the world – we were one of the first cities in Canada to create a waste management system with sustainability as a major focus – and that has resulted in us becoming a leader in waste management.
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- Pragmatism
Edmontonians have a reputation as pragmatists, so it is maybe not surprising that one of the things Edmonton does best (maybe better than anywhere else) is handling garbage.
