Editor: What do the communities of Whistler, Squamish, Jasper, Banff, Whitehorse, Yellowknife, Olds, Cochrane, Okotoks, Taber and Calgary all have in common?
They all have community-scale food scraps (organics) collection and diversion programs.
Canmore does not have such a program, despite both the Environmental Sustainability Action Plan (2010) and the Waste Management Strategy (2012) recommending the Town research and implement such a program.
Last year, a waste characterization study completed for the Town of Canmore showed that over a third of our waste stream consists of food scraps that can be kept out of the landfill by putting a food scraps collection and diversion program in place.
This would save valuable landfill space, decrease greenhouse gas emissions associated with the anaerobic decomposition of organic materials in the landfill, and improve Canmore’s environmental footprint.
There are also opportunities for transportation cost savings as there are numerous compost facilities located outside the Bow Valley in the Calgary area where Canmore’s food scraps could be transported for processing. These compost facilities are much closer than the landfill near Camrose located 350 kilometres away, where the waste stream is currently hauled.
Food scraps collection and diversion is no longer a progressive or new concept. It is mainstream in Canada, and it is time that Canmore caught up with the times.
Shannon Zirnhelt, Cindy Kelly and Aoife Brogan on behalf of Canmore Organics Recycling (CORE)
