“I talk about garbage every day at work. And I love it; it’s super fun!”
That’s how Michelle welcomed us today at the City of Calgary’s Materials Recovery Facility (MRF). The facility is owned by the Québec-based company Cascades and operated by the City of Calgary. All of Calgary’s recycling materials collected in the blue bins land here where they are sorted into paper, plastic, metal and glass.
Numbers
Currently, the facility runs on only 50 per cent capacity. Per hour it processes 40 tonnes of recycling, the equivalent of six adult and one baby elephant. 80 per cent of the recycling waste is paper, only 20 per cent are metal, glass and plastic. The City’s goal is to reduce landfill waste to 20 per cent by 2020. Currently, that’s our recycling rate, 80 per cent of our waste go to the landfill. Continue reading
