A new report suggests that St. Albert may have hit its 2020 trash diversion goal eight years ahead of schedule.
City council received a report on the first nine months of St. Albert’s new solid waste collection program earlier this month. St. Albert started curbside collection of organic waste last June.
The report, a copy of which was provided to the Gazette, suggests that the city managed to recycle or compost about 65.9 per cent of its waste during the last nine months. That would mean the city had effectively surpassed its goal of diverting 65 per cent of its waste from the landfill by 2020, as set out in the Environmental Master Plan.
But solid waste programs co-ordinator Christian Benson wasn’t celebrating just yet.
“You really can’t calculate diversion rates on a month-to-month basis,” he said, as they fluctuate wildly.
Organic waste collection dropped by about 77 per cent between October and December, for example, as people stopped putting yard waste in their green bins.
Benson said a more accurate assessment will come in June when there’s a full 12 months of data. The city diverted about 58 per cent of its trash last year, he noted. “We’re well on our way to reaching our goal by 2020.”
The report suggests that the city collected about 2,650 tonnes less trash in the last nine months than it did in the same period the year before — a drop of about 34 per cent. Much of that waste appears to have gone into composting, which rose by about 3,380 tonnes during that time period. Residents also put about 193 tonnes more of recyclables out on the curb.
The report also shows that the city was still collecting about 200 tonnes of organic waste a month from December to February. This was kitchen waste, Benson said, as there was no yard waste at that time of year, which suggests that residents are separating their kitchen waste instead of chucking it all in the brown trash bin.
Mayor Nolan Crouse said the city now has to build on this diversion, with one of the next steps being to get all the city buildings on board, as well as local schools and businesses. Council hoped to have the Environmental Advisory Committee look at ways to make this happen.
A St. Albert engineer hopes a new modular home system will bring near net-zero housing to the masses.
Stuart Fix of St. Albert’s ReNü Building Science will be at the Edmonton Expo Centre next week to talk about building modular, super-efficient homes in Alberta. The talks, and the associated full-size home, are part of the BUILDEX and Edmonton Home and Garden shows at the centre next week.
The 1,700-square-foot pre-built home is the work of Igloo Building Supplies Group Ltd., said company spokesperson Richard Nault, and will be erected within the conference hall. The home, which Fix helped design, is meant to show that builders can make super-efficient homes in Edmonton for about the same cost of a regular one.
This show-home takes about 85 per cent less energy to heat than a normal house, Fix said, and produces its own energy using solar panels. There’s no furnace and there’s no boiler. It’s not entirely self-sufficient, he added, but it’s very comfortable.
Unlike most net-zero homes, he continued, this one did not require special construction techniques to make.
“Any framer can put up this house. You don’t have to teach them anything new.”
The wall panels come pre-built, and are essentially regular walls with fibrous stone insulation stuck to the outside. The insulation gives the wall about twice the heat-trapping ability of a regular one (R46 compared to R20) and makes it fireproof. The finished house looks no different than a regular one.
This project is meant to bring high-efficiency homes to the masses, Fix said. “If we want society to reduce carbon emissions in buildings, this is how you do it.”
The BUILDEX show runs March 20 and 21, while the home and garden show lasts from March 22 to 25. Visit buildexedmonton.com and edmontonhomeshow.com for details.
