The City of Calgary has many initiatives designed to divert vegetative organics from landfills including the following:
Leaf and Pumpkin Composting Program
Last year the Leaf and Pumpkin Composting Program collected 2.5 million kilograms of material for composting. That's enough to fill eight Olympic-sized swimming pools.
Christmas Tree Recycling Program
Approximately 36,500 trees were collected during the 2012-2013 Christmas Tree Recycling Program. The trees are chipped into mulch and available at no extra charge to residents.
Subsidized Backyard Composters
The City has subsidized the sale of about 60,000 backyard composters, to encourage Calgarians to recycle their own organics.
Grasscycling
The City educates residents about grasscycling. This form of recycling helps keep lawns healthy by acting as a fertilizer and preventing moisture loss, while reducing the amount of waste going to the landfills.
Why is organics recycling important?
Biodegrading organics, like vegetative food (peelings, coffee grounds, etc.) and yard trimmings (grass clippings, leaves, etc.) generate greenhouse gases when they're buried in a landfill where there is no oxygen.
Too much organic material in the landfill means more greenhouse gas in the air. Vegetative organics currently make up a staggering 50 per cent of the residential garbage now going into our landfills. This means our landfills are the largest single point source of greenhouse gases in the area.
