by Michelle Varem
Now that the holiday season is over and the new year has arrived, many of us are probably looking to do some cleaning up and organizing. Conveniently, in 2024 the City of Calgary expanded their landfill collection and sorting to help citizens to cut down on their garbage.
Calgary Eco Centres are specialized sorting facilities at the landfill sites in Calgary where Calgarians can drop off pre-sorted materials, often for free, to be recycled properly instead of being wasted in a landfill. This is similar to how items were collected at our tri-community cleanup last spring, except Eco Centres are open for collection year-round. It is a very simple process – users drive up to the scale house at the landfill entrance and weigh their vehicle, then they’ll be directed to the proper sorting and drop off bins. When they’re finished, they weigh out and pay any applicable fees on the way out. If only free materials are being dropped off there is no fee.
Any free items that are brought in will not be charged for, regardless of weight. They do however need to be sorted, and some items have preparation requirements. Household hazardous waste, for example, needs to be packaged and labelled for the safety of those handling those items.
For items that are accepted with a fee, there is a flat rate of $25 for a load that weighs up to 250 kg (550 lbs). For loads over 250 kg the fee is applied toward the total weight and is similar to normal waste disposal fees. There is also an extra $17 charge for any items that contain or formerly contained freon, such as refrigerators.
What do the employees at the Eco Centres do with your items? Because they are properly sorted, they are able to be reused or recycled into new materials. Bikes are fixed and repurposed by non-profit groups, clean foam packaging is reprocessed and made into new plastic products. Scrap metal and large appliances can be recycled into new metal products, paint can be sorted, re-filtered and reused as new paint. Yard waste is turned into compost, some of which can be accessed by Calgarians to add to their gardens during the growing season. These are only some examples of what is done with the materials that are dropped off.
Overall, the Eco Centres are a great way to divert unnecessary waste from the landfill and instead create new or new-to-you products for others to benefit from. For more information on Calgary Eco Centres check out their website which includes a full list of materials that can be dropped off, location information, frequently asked questions and more: https://www.calgary.ca/waste/drop-off/eco-centres.html.
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