{"id":42253,"date":"2018-04-17T14:38:46","date_gmt":"2018-04-17T20:38:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/?p=42253"},"modified":"2018-04-17T14:38:46","modified_gmt":"2018-04-17T20:38:46","slug":"online-shopping-boom-putting-strain-on-citys-waste-management-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/2018\/04\/17\/online-shopping-boom-putting-strain-on-citys-waste-management-system\/","title":{"rendered":"Online shopping boom putting strain on city’s waste management system"},"content":{"rendered":"

A<\/span>n overall increase in recyclable products is causing issues for Calgary\u2019s waste management system.<\/p>\n

R<\/span>ecycling fees may be going up and city taxpayers may be left responsible in \u201cpicking up\u201d for manufacturers.<\/p>\n

With the popularity of online shopping skyrocketing in recent years and more plastic products being produced overall, Calgary consumers are dealing withy more recyclable packaging then they know what to do with.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis past Christmas was the fullest I\u2019ve ever seen my blue bin,\u201d said Calgary homeowner Nate Saunders.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did a lot of online shopping with our Air Miles for the friends, family and kids, so there\u2019s always a lot of packaging involved,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

“It will be interesting to see how we will deal with cleaning up our own messes.”<\/p>\n

It\u2019s this excessive, and sometimes unnecessary, use of plastic packaging by shipping and retail companies that can cause a real issue for consumers, and city waste management.<\/p>\n

Because of our busy, on the go lifestyles, manufacturers are regularly producing plastic products that are easy and ready to consume.<\/p>\n

However, it\u2019s the public buying these products that are left dealing with the actual process of recycling.<\/p>\n

With more recyclable content coming into recycling centres city-wide, it will mean an increase in monthly blue cart recycling fees. The latest increase was from $8.30 a month in 2017 to $8.50 a month this year.<\/p>\n

Many will remember before the Blue Bin program was implemented in Calgary and the city had supplied drop-off recycling locations where consumers could recycle their plastics on their own time, for free.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy should I pay a fee for something I did on my own anyway, before the blue bins?\u201d said Saunders.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, drop-off recycling was not as reliable in ensuring all residences would, in fact, be recycling.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal is to divert 70 per cent of waste from city landfills in all sectors, including residential, businesses, organizations, construction and demolition by 2025,\u201d reads a statement from the City of Calgary\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

China, a main importer and buyer of our recyclables, has recently imposed restrictions on their imports, which is complicating matters for the city’s 70 per cent goal.<\/p>\n

On Dec. 31, 2017, China put a hold on accepting Canadian recyclable products and tightened quality standards due to contamination found in some of the exports.<\/p>\n

Now Calgary is left with the question of what to do with nearly half of our city’s recyclables.<\/p>\n

City officials say they are looking for other markets where they can ship the recyclables and for the time being, they are not worried about China\u2019s restrictions.<\/p>\n

It will be interesting to see how we will deal with cleaning up our own messes. – Nate Saunders<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

While restrictions on outsourcing Canadian recyclables will make it harder to export, it will open up opportunities for domestic recycling plans.<\/p>\n

For more information on Calgary recycling and the Blue Bin program visit: http:\/\/www.calgary.ca\/UEP\/WRS\/Pages\/Recycling-information\/Residential-services\/Blue-cart-recycling\/What-Can-You-Recycle.aspx?redirect=\/recycling<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An increase in recyclables coming into recycling centers is causing issues for Calgary taxpayers and consumers. [ READ MORE ]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":420,"featured_media":42271,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"_ef_editorial_meta_text_assignment-slug":"S1 Recycling","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,13],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-42253","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-image","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-city","8":"category-news","9":"post_format-post-format-image"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42253","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/420"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42253"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42253\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45374,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42253\/revisions\/45374"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42271"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42253"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42253"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/saitjournalism.ca\/thepress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42253"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}