Tell One Friend: Refuse the Refuse

Let's face it: It's hard to say no to stuff. It's especially hard when the item is a gift, offered as a well-meaning gesture.

Say you visit your dentist. You are thrilled to get a new tooth brush but you don't need the floss (and the packaging with it). How to refuse the floss, politely?

Saying NO is hard in the first place, but it's one of the best ways to reduce waste.

Saying NO to swag, "finisher" t-shirts, and samples at the grocery store can be tricky. Balance courtesy to others along with your own goal to reduce waste.

Just like anything, saying NO takes practice. As an MCR, you can show others how to do this well.

---

What's Your Secret?

Well-Meaning Swag

• Does refusing the refuse work for you?

• How to you decline politely, without hurting someone's feelings?

• Do you have a success story to share?

---

Visit edmonton.ca/waste to learn What Goes Where.
Next Tell One Friend: Set up an Eco Station Box

Previous Tell One Friend: Put Styrofoam in the Garbage

     

Tell One Friend: Put Styrofoam in the Garbage

It's one of the most commonly asked questions: "Can I put Styrofoam in my blue bag for recycling?"

Styrofoam is difficult to recycle economically because it is extremely light and bulky. This makes it difficult to collect, sort, and transport to recyclers. Instead, the City of Edmonton intends to use Styrofoam as feedstock for the Waste to Biofuels Facility, where it will be turned into ethanol.

Let's be clear with friends, neighbours, and co-workers. Recycling works well, when we recycle right. Put Styrofoam in the garbage.

---

Tell your friends, family, neighbours, and co-workers.

One Small Ask
"Will you put Styrofoam in the garbage?
Not in your blue bag.”

Prompt Them
Label at your recycling. "Thank you for NOT wish-cycling"

Give Feedback
"Hey, I noticed that you put Styrofoam in the recycling, months ago, but now you are putting it in the garbage. That's great. It helps our recycling system a lot.”

---

The Reuse Centre also takes some types of Styrofoam. Save your Styrofoam balls, cubes, and sheets and bring them to the Reuse Centre.

Visit edmonton.ca/waste to learn What Goes Where.
Next Tell One Friend: Refuse the Refuse
Previous Tell One Friend: Take Christmas Decor to the Reuse Centre

     

WasteWise Top Ten

WasteWise, our sorting app, launched roughly one month ago. To date, the app has been downloaded over 4,000 times, and over 31,000 item searches have been made.

We know that some items cause a lot of confusion for residents. WasteWise is a quick source of answers, and also provides us with up-to-date data on which items Edmontonians need to know about.

We pulled together the top ten most-searched items. Test yourself, and test your friends!
Do you know where these items go? 

1. Pizza box - 905 hits
2. Shredded paper - 624 hits
3. Styrofoam - 595 hits
4. Plastic wrap - 511 hits
5. Plastic take-out container - 467 hits
6. Plastic bag - 463 hits
7. Plastic container - 427 hits
8. Aluminum foil - 398 hits
9. Metal food can - 376 hits
10. Styrofoam egg carton - 351 hits

Stumped? Check your WasteWise app for the answers!
WasteWise on Google Play or iTunes.

Did you know?

Users can also suggest search terms if they don't find what they're looking for. Some of the most interesting suggestions include "Donald Trump," "ex-boyfriend," and "ten pin bowling ball."

What Goes Where: Dealing with Holiday Waste

The City of Edmonton is asking residents to put their holiday waste where it belongs: food waste in the garbage, paper and boxes in the blue bag, and electronics to the Eco Station.

“Edmontonians are avid recyclers and generally put the right items in their blue bags,” said Laura Henderson, a social marketing coordinator with Waste Management Services, “but with the hustle and bustle of the holiday season, we see an increase in non-recyclables ending up in blue bags.”

Paper, cardboard boxes, plastic bottles and jars, aluminum cans and trays, and glass bottles and jars should go in blue bags or apartment blue bins. Old electronics, strings of broken Christmas lights, food and Styrofoam are some things that should never go in a blue bag.

“Anything with a battery or cord should be taken to an Eco Station,” said Henderson. “Electronic waste and batteries contain toxic elements and should always be brought to an Eco Station for proper disposal.”

Keeping toxic elements out of the regular waste stream is better for the environment and ensures a high-quality compost product. The organic portion of Edmonton's garbage is turned into compost.

For more information about dealing with holiday waste, including which items should be taken to an Eco Station, please visit edmonton.ca/wastelessholidays or call 311.

Be a Better Jet Setter, by MCRs Sam P. and Leigh-Anna P.

How to Reduce Waste While Travelling

Before we started the MCR course, we had planned a road trip down the Pacific Coast. We love to travel, and get very excited at the prospect of relaxing and enjoying new places. Within the first few classes of our course, we started to become more aware of how wasteful travel can be and came up with an idea. We would use our road trip as an opportunity to change our own behaviours and educate others about how to reduce waste while away from home!

While planning our environmentally-conscious trip, we quickly learned that the key to reducing our waste while on the road was planning ahead. Here are some of the most beneficial ideas we came up with:

1. Make a packing list. Forgetting to pack personal items is an easy way to increase waste by buying and consuming more products. Being prepared will not only reduce your stress prior to and during the trip but it will also decrease the amount of packaging waste created on your trip.

2. Bring toiletries in reusable containers. Travel size toiletries are convenient and take up less space in your bag, but they produce a lot more waste than buying regular-sized or bulk bottles. Plus, those little bottles rarely get recycled. They're usually too small to make it through the machine sorting process, even in places that have comprehensive plastics recycling. If you're buying them, plan on saving them to refill for your next trip.

Pro tip: Avoid the urge to use the toiletries in the hotel washrooms. If the hotel staff notice that even the smallest amount of product is used, they will throw out the whole bottle, wasting a lot of product and packaging.

3. Bring a reusable water bottle and travel mug. Disposable coffee cups add up, especially on a road trip! As an added bonus, the reusable mugs keep your coffee hot for longer as an added bonus. You can even bring a reusable beverage container on a plane as long as it is empty when you go through security.

Pick up some local produce to snack on

4. Plan meals ahead of time. Takeout food creates a lot of waste from plastic or Styrofoam containers. Prepare meals and snacks at home, or bring reuseable containers and cutlery for takeout. Cloth napkins will save the amount of paper you use up, and they work wonders for spills and kids! Try grocery shopping instead of always eating at restaurants, and if it's in the budget, choose sit-down places to avoid being served on disposable dishes.



5. Research the waste process of the destination you’re visiting. You don't have to go crazy, but it helps to know what items you are going to be able to recycle and whether the city you are in has a municipal compost system. In places that don’t have recycling or have limited recycling, save your recyclables to dispose of them when you get home! If you're extra keen, you can save organic material in a leak proof container to compost when you return.

Many cities offer bike rentals

6. Use alternative transportation. Explore your destination in a unique and exciting way! Public transportation, like the bus or subway, is an easy, Earth-friendly travel method. Renting bicycles and walking are pleasant ways to explore the city or town at your own pace. In larger cities, bicycle taxis are great ways to explore downtown without creating excess pollution.

Keep it gorgeous!

These ideas are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to reducing your waste while travelling. Get creative and look for opportunities to reduce waste all along your trip. It’s very easy to get caught up in the excitement of travelling and let your waste habits take a backseat to convenience, but it’s important that we make conscious choices with our garbage. The place you're visiting is beautiful; help keep it that way! We all want to continue to have an amazing, waste-free world to travel for years to come.

---

Samantha P. and Leigh-Anna P. took the MCR course together in 2014 and jumped straight into volunteering. Between the two of them, they've hosted booths, joined pop-up compost sessions, and done a whole lot of chit-chatting about waste.

Do you have any fantastic less-waste tips for travelers? Share them in the comments below!

Urban Recycler Dishes the Dirt on Your Waste

Edmonton residents will start receiving important waste-handling information in their mail this week.

The Urban Recycler newsletter contains a useful one-page guide to help residents sort household waste into recycling, garbage, and Eco Station streams. Also included are tips about how to reduce your waste by grasscycling, donating items that can be reused, and recycling electronic waste by taking it to Eco Stations.

Have you been wondering what to do with your dead batteries? How about empty windshield washer bottles? Interested in booking a free tour of the Edmonton Waste Management Centre? The newsletter answers these and many more waste-related questions.

The Urban Recycler will be distributed during the week of April 28th. If you have not received it by May 12, call 311 to have a copy sent to you or download it from edmonton.ca/waste.

The Styrofoam Conundrum, by MCR Christine W.

Why it is more environmentally friendly for Edmonton to NOT recycle Styrofoam?

Some landfills report up to a third of their space consume by Styrofoam (polystyrene). Ultimately we should try to reduce our use of Styrofoam. This includes not eating out at places that have a lot of packaging, and buying less “stuff” that comes packed to death. The only good use of Styrofoam that I have found is Japanese dome homes (worth Googling). These are cute little homes that look like something either a smurf or an alien would live in but, sadly, are ridiculously expensive and would not be rated for Edmonton climate.

The main challenge with recycling Styrofoam is bulk; it takes a lot of resources to ship. These two items weigh the same amount, but the spoon is so much smaller. Twenty of these spoons could be held in your hand, but twenty Styrofoam cubes would fill a garbage bag.

A few places in Alberta collect Styrofoam, including Grand Prairie and Cochrane. Both cities ship their polystyrene products to Asia for further processing.

Photo from Aquatera Utilities Inc.
This pile of 22 transit bags makes
approx. 16.5 ingots.

 The friendly folks in Grande Prairie shared some details about their process. They collect a range of clean Styrofoam products, including items like coffee cups and packing peanuts. They use a  $35,000 machine to break it down to a tenth of the original size into a product called “ingots”. 

The ingots are shipped to Japan to be made into hard dark plastic objects such as picture frames, encasements for computers, park benches, flower pots, architectural molding, toys, etc.

It is great that other places are recycling Styrofoam, so why doesn't Edmonton?

It's because the new Waste-to-Biofuels facility at the EWMC will convert the bulky Styrofoam directly into fuel. This facility will start operations this spring and is expected to be fully operational in 2016. Initially, it will produce methane from the Styrofoam and other waste that is not easily recycled or composted. Later on, it will produce ethanol which will be mixed with gasoline to reduce harmful emissions.

Photo from Aquatera Utilities Inc.
An ingot is 1 meter long and about 14 lbs.

Benefits:

• Edmonton’s Styrofoam will not end up in a landfill here or anywhere else.
• The Styrofoam is turned INTO fuel instead of requiring MORE fuel to process.
• The final product (ethanol) will help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Fortunately we are already on this path and are in a unique position to both keep our Styrofoam out of landfills AND create fuel from it!

Laura H. models a huge piece of Styrofoam.

Christine W. graduated from the MCR program in 2010. She has volunteered in many ways as an MCR including presentations to school groups, events and tradeshows, blog posts, presentations for new MCRs, compost workshops and the #YEG Repairathon.

Record MCR Volunteering

Hybrid Trucks...Part 1

Did you know that the City of Edmonton currently has 7 hybrids in its fleet of vehicles for collecting waste? Two of these trucks were purchased in 2012, and five more were added in 2013 to replace older vehicles. All of the hybrids are currently in active use.




Remember those fun, art-wrapped trucks we featured in Kennedale's new look last month? The two red ones are both hybrids.

The trucks run on diesel, like the other vehicles, but are fitted with a special Engine Stop-Start hybrid system that turns off the engine while the vehicle is immobile. This reduces idling time in vehicles, like collections trucks, that make frequent stops. The engine restarts when the compactor is engaged or when the accelerator is pressed. The transmission remains engaged so there is no lag when starting again. Hydraulic energy is also harvested from braking. Click here to watch a video showing the system in action.

The hybrid system reduces exhaust emissions of SO₂, NO_x, and particulates by 20%, compared to a conventional system. According to the manufacturer, fuel consumption can also be reduced by 15 to 20%. The City of Edmonton plans to conduct an efficiency review of the seven vehicles in early 2014 to find out what kind of numbers we are seeing for our particular usage patterns. They will use that data to make future decisions concerning our waste collections fleet.

We're certainly looking forward to hearing those results, and we'll be sure to share some findings with you in Hybrid Trucks...Part 2.

Record MCR volunteering

Stop to Chat with Ella

Ella is doing a fabulous job as our Summer Compost Educator. Folks can learn to compost by visiting the Compost Education Centre (JJNC) on Saturdays and Sundays. She will also be there on Fridays and Mondays. We asked her some questions to see what makes her tick:

What are you the most proud of from your work this summer?

Before I talk about what I’m proud of in this job, I would just like to say that I’m incredibly honoured to be working for the City of Edmonton. My colleagues in Waste Management Services are very dynamic and forward-thinking, and have not ceased to stretch and challenge me in new ways.
In terms of visible accomplishments, I am most proud of maintaining the garden and floral displays at the John Janzen Nature Centre - I can watch how plants grow with the help of compost, daily!

What kind of questions do you get from people who visit the site?

I get a lot of crazy questions at the Compost Education Centre, but some of the most common ones are:

• How long does it take to compost something? This one is a bit tricky because people want a simple answer. However, as any experienced composter knows, it’s never the same! I usually tell people that it can take anywhere between three months and five years; it’s up to them how long it takes.
• What is the best kind of compost bin to get? When I get this question, I begin my answer by asking some questions of my own about the amount of waste the visitor wants to compost, how much time they have to turn the compost, and whether they want it done quickly. All of these factors allow me to make a recommendation.
• How do I get started? That one’s easy, because the answer is always the same: greens, browns, water, air!

When you visit the site, let us know if you do any maintenance work
in this log book. That way we can properly thank you for your time!

Check out this map to learn what Ella has planted around the site.

What’s your favourite story from your work with Mark?

It’s hard to settle for one specific Mark story (there are just so many), but there is one ongoing saga that comes up the most often: Mark’s love affair with lattes. Of course I enjoy lattes as well, so Mark and I will often get one while out running errands. Recently, things have progressed so far that Mark and I will try to interpret the colour patterns in the milk foam. Although it’s not quite like reading tea leaves, it comes close to it in artfulness and imagination.

Ella has lots of examples of worm composting to show visitors.
She also encourages picnickers to compost their food scraps. 

How many people have you spoken to at the Compost Education Centre?

According to our stats, I've spoken to over 450 people, so far, this summer.

Ella is very comfortable helping residents find
a way to compost that fits their lifestyle. 

Do you have any tricks to engage people walking by the site?

The key to engaging any guest is offering them something, be it an activity, a demonstration, or just some attention. The most effective way of bringing families in is to play a game with the kids or to offer an encounter with our Red Wigglers. Adults without children can be more difficult to engage, but if they have any interest in composting, it usually works to be friendly and approach them. I offer to answer questions and encourage them to interact with the compost bins we have on site.

Thank you to Ella for sharing your experience with us. Remember to stop by, and say hello to her this summer! As you can see, Ella is happy to answer questions.

Edmonton "Leaves It On The Lawn"

Myles shared his passion with a presentation at Pecha Kucha Night 16.
(He starts 12 minutes into the video)

 


Notice the crowd cheer as Myles points out that bagging grass is an outdated behaviour, originating when the first lawn mower was designed with a bag to catch clippings. Times have changed and now people understand that grassclippings are great for lawn health. Over half of Edmonton leaves our clippings on the lawn!


Start a conversation about grasscycling with your friends, they can enter a draw to win a mulching mower at LeaveItOnYourLawn.com

You may notice our summer street crew in
your neighbourhood, we'll tell you
about their role sometime soon.

You can ask for a lawn sign at LeaveItOnYourLawn.com

Edmonton Composts: Celebrating Compost Awareness Week May 5-12, 2013

Celebrate by telling someone how much you love composting or by helping them start composting! Composting is simple and has many benefits to you, your city, and your yard. 

Visit the Compost Demonstration Site at John Janzen Nature Centre to check out your options. There are many approaches to composting so find one that works with your lifestyle.  

You can compost indoors with Red Wriggler Worms like MCR Duncan K.

Once you have a compost, find a container for your kitchen scraps.

Keep a balance of green, browns, water, and air in your compost bin.

Compost bins like this one being harvested by MCRs Sarah F and Genia R can be purchased for $35 after taking a workshop.

Use compost to add nutrients to your lawn.

Which lawn do you think was treated with compost?

Add compost to your potted plants as fertilizer. 

Use compost in your garden, it will help the soil hold moisture and reduce compaction. Composting can be a fun and active activity to do with the family. 

Get creative with your compost! 

For Compost Awareness Week, The City of Edmonton is hosting 4 workshops at the John Janzen Nature Centre:

• Tuesday, May 7 from 7-9pm
• Wednesday, May 8 from 7-9pm
• Thursday, May 9 from 7-9pm
• Saturday, May 11 from 2-4pm

Classes are only $10 and you can purchase a composter for $35 after taking the workshop. Take a workshop to get started: register for a workshop

Other resources:

edmonton.ca/compost
Backyard Composting Booklet 
Work Composting Booklet
Compost Bins You Can Build Booklet

6 Pack Holders: Recyclable or Not?

Let's use the 4Rs to talk about 6 Pack Holders. 

6 pack holder: recyclable or not?

 Reduce
Avoid 6 pack holders entirely by buying in bulk!

Reuse
Donate them to The Reuse Centre or make a craft yourself. Check out the full list of items accepted at the Reuse Centre.

Sarah, a staff member at the Reuse Centre shows off  a recent donation. 

Recycle? 
No, they do not belong in your Blue Bag or Blue Bin in Edmonton. Put them in the garbage, they will travel to the Edmonton Waste Management Centre and then to the landfill in Ryley, AB.

Recover
Starting in 2015 - when you put them in your garbage they will be turned into Biofuels along with other carbon based waste.

Useful Links: 
Living Green in a Colourful World Blog: snowfake craft instructions
edmonton.ca/reusecentre
edmontonbiofuels.ca

Coffee Pods: Are They Recyclable?

Don't feel like reading? Watch this special edition of CBC Marketplace. The segment starts at 3:57.

The short answer: Coffee pods are not recyclable in Edmonton. They are too small to sort in the Materials Recovery Facility and also contain many different materials all stuck together. So they belong in the garbage.

The long answer: Some people really want them to be recyclable so they take them all apart at home so let's break it down piece by piece.

Coffee grounds - compostable!

• Compost at home, or if you put in your household garbage - in Edmonton - it will be sorted out and composted.

Composting Facility at the Edmonton Waste Management Centre (EWMC)

Paper filter - compostable

• Compost at home, or put it in your household garbage and - in Edmonton - it will be sorted out and composted.

• If you put it in your Blue Bag then it will go to the Materials Recovery Facility for sorting: Paper needs to be bigger than your palm to be sorted at the recycling sorting facility. If it's smaller than your palm, it will likely reach the end of the sorting line as "residuals" or "leftovers" which are landfilled. It may also cause some problems at the plant because small pieces of paper can jam up the machines.

Small (no number) plastic containers - garbage

• If you put them in your Blue Bag, then it will go to the Materials Recovery Facility for sorting. The machines there aren't capable of sorting items that are this small, and the workers on the line are focusing on other items (e.g. pulling plastic bags off the line for recycling).

Materials Recovery Facility at the EWMC

Better ways to deal with them

Unless you find a creative way to reuse these coffee pods, they will end up in the landfill... right now. Edmonton has decided to deal with plastic like this with the Waste-to-Biofuels Project. When the Waste-to-Biofuels Facility is up and running in 2015, the chemicals in these plastics will be recovered into methanol and ethanol. edmontonbiofuels.ca

Our office also has a coffee machine that has small disposable items with each cup. In order to reduce waste, a few of us around the office just bought a coffee press instead. We still get to enjoy a delicious brew without the waste!

Learn more
Find information on composting at home, the EWMC, recycling, Waste-to-Biofules and much more at edmonton.ca/waste.
If you have a suggestion for a questionable item please let us know at mcrp@edmonton.ca!

Eco Stations - keeping hazardous waste and electronics out of landfills

On Friday, March 15, Edmonton's Eco Stations celebrated our 2 millionth customer.
Thank you for keeping 16,093,483 litres of household hazardous waste out of the landfill!

How did we celebrate? 

Watch: Councillor Don Iveson congratulates the 2 millionth customer

Councillor Don Iverson  presents Gilda Valli with her gift

The festivities haven't stopped.
Eco Stations will give away 2 million carrot seeds this year!

Garry, Gilda, and Don show off their carrot seeds

Garry showing 2 million carrot seeds, representing
the 2 millionth customer to Eco Stations

What happens to things you bring to the Eco Station?

Reused 

usable paint à segregated, stored for Paint Exchange

items in good condition à Reuse Area at Ambleside Eco Station

Recycled 

glycol (antifreeze) à reconditioned into new antifreeze

fluorescent tubes à crushed using a bulb crusher and processed at Custom Environmental facilities

PCB lamp ballasts à reclaimable components are recycled, the rest sent for incineration

dry-cell batteries à sent to Toxco and recycled
wet-cell batteries (e.g. car & truck batteries)

plastic casing à recycled into new battery casings

lead cores à recycled into new lead cores

battery acid à used to produce expanded polystyrene

rechargeable batteries à recycled

motor oil/oil filters à recycled by oil recycler

scrap metal (includes empty paint cans) à recycled by local scrap metal dealer

white goods (e.g. freezers, fridges, coolers) à hazardous components removed; remainder recycled

aerosol cans (partially full) à contents evacuated & recycled/disposed, canisters are recycled

propane/butane cylinders à contents evacuated & recycled/disposed, canisters are recycled

Composted

yard waste à sent to IPTF and composted. 

Safely Disposed 

unusable paint à sent to Alberta Special Waste Management Treatment Centre (Swan Hills)

large/bulky items in poor condition àsent to IPTF and landfilled

non-recyclable HHW & prescription medication à sent to Alberta Special Waste Management Treatment Centre (Swan Hills)

Eco Station attendant holds a phone which will
be sent to GEEP for electronic recycling

My Favourite Things About Eco Stations

• They keep household hazardous waste out of our garbage. That's especially important since organic waste is separated from garbage and composted.
• They make it possible to recycle electronics, batteries, motor oil, unusable paint, scrap metal, freezers, fridges, propane and butane cylinders, fluorescent tubes, and more! 
• Free stuff! You can find free paint at all Eco Stations. It's salvaged from usable paint dropped off by residents. The Reuse Area at Ambleside Eco Station saves household items in good condition from landfill. 

History in a Nutshell

• Eco Stations have been accepting Edmonton's computers, batteries, paint cans, couches, and much more from residents since 1995. 
• Strathcona and Coronation Eco Stations are converted spaces. They were originally used as transfer stations (where waste was taken, sorted, and moved again). 
• Ambleside was the first purpose-built Eco Station. Lessons learned from the existing facilities helped in the design of a super Eco Station. It boasts a Reuse Area, lots of room to drop-off, natural light, and beautiful art. 
• Planning is under way for a fourth Eco Station, to serve communities in Northeast Edmonton. 

For More Info

edmonton.ca/ecostations
Edmonton This Week (radio interview)