You may have heard that Edmonton’s downtown and central neighbourhoods are experiencing a renaissance; new growth is occurring in both population and development. What hasn’t changed is Edmonton’s entrepreneurial spirit. No, that’s been around since the city’s founding. The difference is that this new growth has made the city bolder – and more innovative.
One area where Edmonton has been excelling for some time is waste management. The Edmonton Waste Management Centre (EWMC) is one of the most advanced waste processing facilities in Canada. Since 1992, its facility in the Clover Bar area has been involved in landfill gas capture to produce electricity. The city also owns and operates the Materials Recovery Facility (MRF). The MRF processes and sorts recyclables from the city’s blue bag/blue bin program and, along with the Edmonton Composting Facility, helps Edmonton divert up to 60% of household waste from the Clover Bar landfill.
In tandem with Edmonton’s new found boldness in innovation, the EWMC opened Canada’s first waste-to-biofuels facility in June 2014. When fully operational, the city hopes to increase its landfill diversion rate to 90% by 2016. As of December 2013 Edmonton has been successful in diverting 51% of its waste from the landfill, so there is still a long way to go.
Some easy progress could be made in reviewing waste pick-up strategies and processes in core neighbourhoods. Edmonton’s core neighbourhoods include the downtown and adjacent neighbourhoods that have a strong inter-relationship with the downtown. They also happen to include some of Edmonton’s most dense neighbourhoods. As you can imagine, density can present some challenges with respect to waste collection. People can produce an unbelievable amount of household waste. In 2012, Edmontonians produced an estimated 357 kg of household waste per person, per year. When a large number of people are packed into a small area, the sum-total can be staggering. I call this the ‘Household Waste in Urban Space’ problem.
A major aspect of this problem is the logistical challenge of ensuring regular, reliable, and sufficient pick-up service. Another challenge involves trying to fit large collection trucks in Edmonton’s narrow back lanes and on its crowded central roads that are increasingly occupied by vulnerable pedestrians and cyclists. As I’ve discovered living in two of Edmonton’s highest density neighbourhoods, Oliver and Downtown, space is a major challenge for the city’s waste pick-up program. For example, in these and other predominantly multi-family neighbourhoods, whole blocks can lack blue bins for recycling service. The default for multi-family buildings is regular garbage collection. Blue bins are provided on request if there is extra room.
One simple solution would be to do a block-by-block survey of predominantly multi-family core areas and ensure that each block is equally served by both garbage bins and recycling bins, replacing some building’s garbage bins with blue bins. (Interestingly, Section 43 of Edmonton’s Waste Management Bylaw prohibits people from placing waste in bins not located on their own property so this bylaw might have to be amended). However, Edmonton is a city of innovators and the City of Edmonton does not have to look far to find more innovative waste management practices in high density areas.
South of the Downtown, across the North Saskatchewan River, the University of Alberta’s waste disposal program is not directly serviced by the City of Edmonton’s program. Rather, the University manages its own internal program. With a staff and student population of almost 45,000 and over 4,000 students living in nine residence buildings on the main North Campus, it goes without saying that waste management and removal is an essential aspect of the University’s day-to-day operations. In addition, the limited space and winding network of narrow public and private streets, walkways, and rear lanes contributes to an urban character on North Campus that is not far removed from Edmonton’s other core neighbourhoods.
The U of A’s Sustainability Plan has set a number of goals to help it achieve a more sustainable campus. A number of strategies have been implemented to help achieve the plan’s goals, such as reaching 50% waste diversion from landfills by 2015. One of the University’s more innovative practices, with the potential to be adapted to Edmonton’s high density neighbourhoods, is the use of recycle transfer stations. These are essentially staging areas where recyclable materials from across campus are brought and placed in compactors for pick-up by a contracted waste hauler for transport to a local materials recovery facility. This process greatly reduces the number of large trucks driving on campus roads and improves the atmosphere of the University’s lanes by eliminating the need for large bins in its highly populated areas.
A related strategy is the U of A’s Emerald Award-winning Waste in Residence Program. A significant aspect of the program’s success can be attributed to its social marketing campaign through the Office of Sustainability that seeks to “assess challenges, target changes in behaviour, and provide feedback to residents.” A simple innovation borne out of this program with applicability to Edmonton’s core neighbourhoods is its use of waste station huts. Located in the rear lanes of the U of A’s East Campus Village and Graduate Residence blocks, these are integrated recycling, composting, and waste stations shared by all buildings and residents on a block. As the success of this communal strategy to household waste increases, the Waste in Residence Program continues to educate and innovate in areas such as the oft-forgotten other two R’s: reduce and reuse.
Waste is a significant contributor to our urban footprint across Canada. As our cities continue to grow, how we manage our space and our household waste present problems that require careful planning, innovative practices, and continued public education. However, in the tradition of Edmonton’s entrepreneurial spirit, the City of Edmonton and the University of Alberta are stepping up to the challenge. The City of Edmonton continues to innovate in waste management on a city-wide scale, while the University of Alberta is helping to solve problems that impact some of our most dense and urban spaces.
Photo courtesy of the University of Alberta
