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Issue 62
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Weather Trivia  |
Environment Canada's knowledgeable specialists answer questions about wildlife, air pollution, water, weather, climate change and other aspects of the environment.
Print Version
E-mail this page More Questions
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Recycling is a necessity in our cities, helping to extend the lifespan of ever-growing landfills. These same landfills account for 25 per cent of Canadian man-made methane emissions – a greenhouse gas (GHG) 21 times more potent than carbon dioxide (CO2). Taking some time each day to set aside from your garbage what can be recycled is a smart and simple action since virtually every city in Canada has some sort of facility to receive your recyclable material.
Recycling practices are not uniform everywhere in Canada; they may consist of curbside recycling in boxes, bins or bags, or you may have to bring your recyclables to depots at specific locations. Moreover, each municipality is equipped to accept different materials. Commonly recycled materials include plastic, glass, paper and aluminium but you have to check with your municipality to know whether specific items, like plastic bags or milk jugs, are accepted. In many municipalities you will also be asked to sort recyclables, which involves separating glass bottles from their metal caps, for example.
In some towns and cities, the municipal government takes care of recycling whereas in other places, it is undertaken by private companies and is not necessarily free. Finally, certain recyclable containers are refundable if you bring them back, but not everywhere.
So how can you find out about recycling in your community? Provincial recycling organisations exist in certain provinces, and you can contact them for general information. However, recycling is very much a local activity and your best bet is to get in touch with your municipality directly to find out how you can recycle. Visit your city or town's official website (usually the waste management section has information on recycling), or check the Yellow Pages in your phonebook under Recycling.
Below you will find a list of a few Canadian cities that have recycling information online.
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British Columbia
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Vancouver's
Recycling Program includes Blue Box and Apartment pickup programs. |
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Victoria
has programs such as curbside Blue Box, Apartment Recycling, Recycling
Depots and Compost Drop-Off Depots. |
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Prince
George has Drop-depot Recycling locations for various materials including
beverage containers and compost. |
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Kamloops
has recycling bins and a yard waste compost facilities. |
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Kelowna
collects blue and clear recycling bags on garbage days. Four depots are
also available. |
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Alberta
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Calgary
has plans to extend curbside recycling to the whole city by 2009. A pilot
project was carried out last year in certain neighbourhoods. |
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Edmonton
offers programs like the Blue Bags, the Blue Bins and the Recycling Depots |
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Lethbridge
provides Recycling Depots. (.pdf format) |
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Medicine
Hat has a Recycling Depot program. For information on the city website,
click on City Services, Environmental Utilities then Recycling. |
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Red
Deer has a Blue Box program for residences and bins for apartments. |
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Saskatchewan
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Regina
has Big Blue Bins where recyclable materials can be deposited. The Crown
Shed Recycling Company also collects recyclables. |
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Saskatoon
provides Recycling Depot, Curbside and Yard Waste pickup programs. |
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Moose
Jaw residents can put there recyclables at curb side every 3 weeks
thanks to the Crown
Shed and Recycling Company. |
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Manitoba
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Winnipeg
has Blue box, apartment pickup and recycling depot programs. |
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Portage
La Prairie has curbside recycling and a composting program. |
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Thompson
has its own Recycling Center which offers a curbside program. |
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Brandon
offers Drop-off depots and has a Blue Bag program for recyclable material
and yard waste. The programs are conducted by the Westman Recycling Council. |
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Ontario
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Ottawa
has Black Boxes for paper and Blue Boxes for other recyclables which are
collected regularly. Recycling Bins are also available for apartments. |
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Toronto
recycles through a Blue Box program. Green Bins for composting and other
facilities are also available. |
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Thunder
Bay has curbside recycling, depots, and yard waste pickup programs. |
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Sudbury
has a blue box program. |
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Windsor
provides public drop-off depots and curbside recycling. |
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Hamilton
provides curbside collection of Blue Boxes for recyclable materials and
of Green Carts for organics. |
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Quebec
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Montréal
has Blue Box curbside recycling and other programs. |
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Québec
has Blue Box curbside recycling and other programs. (french only) |
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Gatineau
has a Green Box program and is intending to implement a compost collect
by 2008. |
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Lévis
provides curbside recycling. |
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Trois-Rivières
has a Blue Box collect and Ré-cube depots. |
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Sherbrooke
has a Green Box program. To find the schedules on the city website, go
to Environnement, then Services
Municipaux, then Services de l'environnement, des
réseaux et de la voirie. (french only) |
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New Brunswick
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Fredericton
collects Blue Boxes and Grey Boxes. |
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Saint
John has Recycling Depots and a compost program. For information,
click Saint John on the clickable map. |
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Nova Scotia
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Halifax has an Enviro-Depot program for Beverage Containers and a Blue Bag program for recyclables. |
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New
Glasgow has a blue bag program. |
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Newfoundland
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St.
John's has a curbside collection service provided by the Atlantic
Blue Recycling Limited. Green Depots are also available. |
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Corner
Brook offers a curbside recycling program. |
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Prince Edward Island
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Charlottetown
offers the monthly collect of residential compost and Blue
Bags in the city, as well as in most areas of the island. Drop-Off
Centres for the Blue Bags are also open on Saturday mornings. |
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Yukon
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Whitehorse
provides curbside recycling once every two weeks. |
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Northwest Territories
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Yellowknife
has a depot system for recyclables. |
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Nunavut
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Iqaluit does not currently have a residential recycling program. Contact the city to learn about other initiatives. |
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