Calgary hits 100 million kg of compost a year through green cart pickup

Calgariansare adapting well to the city's composting program, instated roughly a year ago.

Since July 2017, Calgary has collected 100 million kilograms of food and yard waste, green cart program managerLaura Hamilton said Monday.

"Our black cart tonnage has decreased over 40 per cent since roll-out, as well, so it's been going great," she told the Calgary Eyeopener.

In fact, she said, the city has collected 30 per cent more compost than it expected.

So far, Calgarians are getting the gist of what goes where in the bins. Contamination is fairly low, at between two and five per cent, she said.

Bags getting into bins

Plastic bags are a main source of contamination, Hamilton said, when they're used to collect compost or dog droppings. Also, she said, people are still disposing of food into the green bin without removing the plastic packaging.

The only plastic bags that can be put into the compost must be certified compostable, Hamilton said, and not simply biodegradable.

Here are a few other items that may be causing confusion in the kitchen:

• Cardboard egg cartons: these can go in the compost but are more valuable in recycling.
• Cardboard pizza boxes: if clean, put these in recycling. If covered in cheese or toppings, toss in the compost.
• Fruit stickers: these are garbage.
• Coffee cups: the cups are recyclable, not compostable, and the lids are garbage.
• Tea bags: thesecan be composted, tags included but staples removed.
• Grass clippings, weeds, hair from a hairbrush and cat fur: all of these can all go in the compost.
• Dryer lint, diapers and butcher paper: put thesein the garbage.

A full list of accepted items can be found on the city's website.

Several companies in Calgary also offer composting or recycling for items not processed by the city, including diapers and Styrofoam a service Cochrane has had for almost a decade.

Companies in Calgary are alsorequired to compostfood and yard waste.

The resulting compost from everything collected is available to residents topick up for gardensin the spring.

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With files from the Calgary Eyeopener.