General Information

Waste & Recycling Services is responsible for The City of Calgary's solid waste management services.

Services we provide include

• Collect residential waste as defined under Waste & Recycling Bylaw 20M2001  (52 KB).
• Collect commercial and industrial waste on a fee-for-service basis.
• Dispose of residential and commercial waste by operating three landfills, available to Calgary and the surrounding region.
• Provide leaf and backyard composting programs, Christmas tree recycling, electronics recycling, chemical waste collection and disposal programs, and recycling activities for selected materials at the landfill sites.

The City of Calgary is the first public waste management organization in Western Canada to achieve ISO 14001   registration.

We are moving Calgary towards recycling 80 per cent of our waste by 2020. At the same time, we maintain landfills and weekly garbage collection for a city of more than one million people.

Waste & Recycling Services is organized into the following four areas

1. Collection Services

• Collect and dispose of residential and commercial waste, based out of the Spyhill, East Calgary and Shepard landfill compounds.
• Design routes for commercial and residential collection, including maintaining all statistical data relevant to these operations.
• Administer commercial contracts and check development applications and building permits for adequate waste facilities to be built according to development and building regulations and permits.
   
  Note: Residential collection is tax-supported. Commercial collection is done on a fee-for-service (contract) basis. 

• Perform engineering design, planning, capital development, environmental monitoring and operations for all landfills.
• Provide disposal services for all residential, commercial and industrial waste.
• Use a permit system to control the disposal of industrial waste, which is inspected before disposal.
• Monitor, remediate and redevelop former landfills on an ongoing basis.
   
  Note: Landfill operating and capital costs are recovered through a landfill "tipping fee" and taxes. This fee is set yearly and is assessed on each tonne of disposed waste.
  City landfills operate under approvals issued by Alberta Environment.

3. Strategic Planning & Diversion

• Plan and co-ordinate overall solid waste management initiatives. We design and implement waste reduction and recycling strategies and work with communities and other agencies.
• Responsible for all residential recycling operations, based out of the Spring Gardens and Mayland Heights compounds.
   
  Note: Strategic Planning & Diversion, including recycling, is funded through sales of recyclables and contributions from reserves, which are funded by tipping fees.

4. Finance

• Provide financial and accounting services.
• Prepare budgets, financial statements and management reports.