Why recycling matters
Since 2009, Calgary’s Blue Cart program has helped Calgarians recycle more than a billion kilograms of material.
The City of Calgary and Circular Materials are committed to making sure the recyclables you put in the Blue Cart program continue to be ethically and environmentally recycled.
Know your Calgary recycling facts.
New provincial recycling system
In 2025, a new provincial recycling policy, Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) made producers (manufacturers) responsible for managing packaging waste when it’s no longer needed.
Circular Materials acts on behalf of producers for residential recycling in Alberta while The City of Calgary continues as a contracted collector to pick up blue carts in Calgary.
Making sure your Blue Cart recyclables get recycled
Circular Materials works closely with their contracted recycling processor, GFL Environmental Inc. who sorts Calgary's residential recyclables to ensure they get turned into something new. They provide oversight so GFL meets all contract obligations and stays in compliance with industry standards, international, federal and provincial laws.
GFL Environmental Inc. has processes in place to make sure recyclables go to legitimate recyclers and manufacturers.
Before recyclables are sent for manufacturing, they check companies using:
Multi-layered reference checks on pulp mills, paperboard factories and packaging manufacturers.
In-person inspections before sending any sorted recyclables.
Third-party certification for our contracted recycling sorting facility and manufacturers.
Why recyclables are too good to waste
Our planet has limited resources and everything we use has to come from somewhere. Whether plastic from oil, cardboard from trees, or cans from mined ore.
Extracting, manufacturing and disposing of these materials carries major environmental and social costs.
Recycling conserves vital resources and reduces pollution by putting materials back to use again.
- Paper and cardboard recycled through the Blue Cart program save over one million trees each year.
- Recycling tin cans and foil uses 95% less energy than producing aluminum from raw materials.
- Making one tonne of paper from recycled content saves 28,000 liters of water.
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How the sorting facility works
The materials recovery facility (MRF) operated by GFL Environmental uses a mix of automated sorting technology and manual sorting to manage your Blue Cart recyclables.
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Where recyclables go
Calgary recyclables are taken to the GFL Environmental Inc. recycling sorting facility and then onto recyclers and manufacturers all over North America and around the world.
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Turning old products into something new
The recyclables you put in your blue cart get turned into new products that you’ll find at the grocery store, at the mall, online shopping and other retailers.
Valuable recycling, value for Calgary
Calgary’s three cart systemkeeps our communities clean, protects public health and manages our waste in a responsible and affordable way.
Conserving our valuable landfills
Calgary is lucky to have three landfills in city limits – an advantage many municipalities lack, often requiring costly long-distance transport to privately-operated facilities.
Developing a new landfill is complex and expensive. Even if successful, it is unlikely to match the convenience of our existing landfills.
Because our landfill space is limited and valuable, it is essential to keep recyclables out of the waste stream.
