EAP editor`s note: Conservation Corner welcomes news we can use. Have you experienced a reduce-reuse-recycle success story? Heard from a friend or a relative of a community that`s going (or gone) green? Please share! The following comes to us from EAP member Mike Leiner.
While visiting with my daughter in Canada, I had the opportunity to view how her small city, St Albert, handles their conservation concerns.
Recycling is heavily encouraged. A recycling fee is automatically added to your garbage bill. St Albert operates under a "pay as you throw" program; the more garbage you generate, the higher your bill. Since approximately 80% of household garbage is recyclable, on garbage day you see as many blue bags (recyclables) as black bags (garbage). There is no limit to the number of blue bags you are allowed to set out, but you are limited to the number of black (garbage) bags you can set out, based on one of three volume levels you choose to pay for (one bag every two weeks, one bag a week, or two bags a week). Tags color code the garbage bags to indicate your level of payment.
St Albert collects yard waste at a central location, where the yard waste is composted. Each year, St Albert collects 4,000 tons of compostable material. Twice a year, in the Spring and in the Fall, finished composted material is provided free to residents.
When you shop in St Albert, you are charged for plastic bags if you don`t bring your own cloth bags. Deposit fees also encourage recycling (10 cents on soda cans and bottles, 25 cents on plastic juice and milk containers). During our two-week stay, we were refunded 8 dollars on containers we returned to the recycle center. (Fifty-eight communities in Canada have banned plastic water bottles, including the larger cities, Vancouver and Toronto.
St Albert is a bedroom community outside of Edmonton, the capital of Alberta. According to my daughter, all of the above programs are under local control, including a community garden project on the grounds of the city`s botanical gardens. To obtain an individual plot in the community garden, you are required to donate 35 hours per year working in the botanical gardens` public space (weeding, mulching, etc.).
The city has extensive bicycle trails; in good weather it`s possible to bike from the outlying areas to the city center. Public transportation serves even my daughter`s neighborhood of houses starting in the $800 thousand range. Public buses routed through the subdivisions take commuters to and from the downtown area for work.
-- Mike Leiner | 
