Edmonton businesses may soon be required to sort waste
CBC
Businesses in Edmonton don’t have to recycle or compost — but that could soon change.
The city says non-residential sectors generate 70 per cent of waste in Edmonton and half of that is organic waste. One of the actions being considered to divert more waste from landfills is a bylaw mandating sorting into multiple streams.
The city is also looking at grants that could help early adopters and educational toolkits. Businesses and industry organizations are being surveyed before the plan gets finalized and goes to a city council committee in the summer.
Gloria Bednarz, the owner of The Art of Cake, told CBC News that even separating cardboard out of the garbage isn’t universal practice in the restaurant industry.
“I just don't feel everybody's on board yet. And I don't understand why — is it because it isn't easy for them to recycle or do they just don't care?”
Allen Gao, owner of ramen restaurant Menya Mori, said his staff reuse food scraps to make broths and flavoured oils — but taking on organics separation would be difficult for many businesses.
“Things like garbage cans are very expensive. One of those like typical grey garbage cans can run you around $55,” Gao said.
“It would be really helpful if the city could help business owners by providing some sort of financial benefit.”
Alison Abbink, a senior waste policy planner for the city said in a statement that Edmonton is far from the first to consider something like this.
“The practice of source separation has already been introduced to businesses in other major Canadian municipalities such as Calgary, Vancouver, Regina and Halifax.”
Jennifer Koole with the Recycling Council of Alberta said Calgary’s separation bylaw is about a decade old and it's refreshing to see Edmonton consider finally following suit.
She recalled that in Calgary the commercial sector actually asked for the change, wanting to take discretion out of the process.
“Lots of businesses have internal champions or green teams or the people saying this is the right thing to do and they're not always the people with the decision-making power,” Koole said.
“So by having a blanket bylaw for everyone in the city, it levels the playing field and it also takes that choice out of it.”
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