New sorting stations a colourful addition to Edmonton’s waste diversion story and another step in our energy transition

New sorting stations are coming to many public spaces in Edmonton, allowing people to separate garbage, food scraps and recycling just like they do at home.

“Whether you’re picnicking at Rundle Park, enjoying a meal at an attraction or hosting a birthday party at a recreation centre, you’ll be able to properly sort and reduce the waste going to a landfill,” said Kory deGroot, Project Coordinator, Corporate Waste Transformation at the City of Edmonton.

Sorting waste is crucial because food waste and organics can be transformed into compost, but not if they are tossed into the landfill with other garbage. Not only do food scraps take up valuable space in the landfill, they also generate greenhouse gas emissions.

Although fewer than 4% of greenhouse gas emissions are derived from a few activities that include waste management, the City is not leaving this out of its emissions equation. The newly revised Edmonton’s Community Energy Transition Strategy and Action Plan identifies four bold and transformative pathways to reach Edmonton’s Climate Resilience goal of a low carbon city.

Pathway #1, Renewable and Resilient Energy Transition, identifies a strategy of zero emission energy and resources from waste while minimizing emissions. This includes producing renewable energy from waste and implementing and expanding organics capture and processing. With sorting stations available at home and at public spaces across the City, residents can easily pitch in to help achieve this goal.

Accessible for all

What goes where is easy to sort out.

By colour. The black compartment is for garbage, green for food scraps and blue for recycling.

By label. Each compartment has the printed word for its waste stream.

By symbol. Printed on each compartment is an icon for the waste steam and representations of suitable items.

“All these elements work together to make sorting easy for people adapting to the new system,” said Jenny Hong, Director of Corporate Waste Transformation.

Waste Strategy

The sorting stations come on the heels of the Edmonton Cart Rollout, which has been underway in Edmonton since March.

On average, 10,000 carts—including a separate cart and a kitchen pail for food scraps—are being delivered each week through the end of August to approximately 250,000 homes in Edmonton.

“Each person’s decision to separate food from other garbage and recycling, whether in their homes or in public, helps with Edmonton’s 25-year Waste Strategy,” said Hong.

The City has been leading by example. Food scraps bins have been added in work areas and behind-the-scenes places in City workplaces, parks, rec centres and other attractions.

Local Expertise

Edmonton’s updated Energy Transition Strategy recognizes that the global pandemic emerged during a new era of economic growth. It is well known that the energy sector is changing, both locally and globally, and that established companies will need to innovate and transform their businesses. A local welding business realized the need to diversify from work in its traditional realm of oil and gas and began to shift its focus even before the pandemic.

The sorting stations are produced locally by Kapty Welding. That includes the design, prototyping and refining, and locally sourcing the metal, laser cutting and powder coating.

“A few years ago, we were considering shutting down due to the lack of oilfield work,” said founder Steve Kapty.

“We started making sign brackets, and promoted our services to [non-oil and gas clients],” said Kapty. “I am now very optimistic that as the pandemic reduces, opportunities should increase.”

In all, 31 sorting stations have been installed at 17 locations across Edmonton.

Thanks for getting on board

The sorting stations will play an important part in helping the City reach its goal of diverting 90 percent of waste from our landfills.

Thanks for reading, thanks for sorting.