CANMORE – A motion arising from Canmore council could see the Town look at improving its circular economy that may lead to more reuse options for residents.
The arising motion during council discussion that saw a second large item pickup vehicle budget increased. But rather than simply trucking potential reusable material to landfill, the motion will examine the possibility of improving the local circular economy. Town council directed staff to return for 2025 budget talks with recommendations.
“I like the large item pickup program, but the fact we are sending tonnes of usable material to the landfill is a missed opportunity. … It doesn’t bind us to anything or say we’re going to do anything new, but I think one of our roles as council is to think bigger and perhaps challenge what can we do better,” said Coun. Tanya Foubert.
“Is there a way we can take this program, increase our sustainability, improve relationships and increase affordability because a reuse economy I think relates to all our priorities as council.”
According to statistics provided by Town staff, there was 117 tonnes of landfill collected in 2018 followed by 112 tonnes in 2019 and 114 tonnes in 2020. That significantly increased in 2021 to 211 tonnes and 115 tonnes in 2022.
The recycled materials collected was often far less, with 83 tonnes picked up in 2018 and 115 tonnes in 2019. In 2020, there was 109 tonnes of material recycled, 104 tonnes in 2021 and 92 in 2022.
Coun. Jeff Hilstad suggested the potential of including material from the e-waste depot on Boulder Crescent.
“Sometimes I know there’s things in there that I’ve seen people drop off that could probably be fixed. … That’s something to think about in the future,” he said.
The motion came during a discussion that ultimately led to council increasing the capital budget for a large item pickup vehicle to $160,000 after it was previously approved for $100,000. The additional funding will come from the Town’s solid waste services reserve.
The Town of Banff has a re-use it centre in its industrial compound that is open seven days a week. It’s been operating for several years and has seen success in diverting waste that would otherwise go to landfill.
It allows residents to both drop off and find items to reuse such as books, toys, small appliances and outdoor gear.
Banff council updated its Zero Waste Action Plan earlier this summer, with the goal of seeing waste diversion of 70 per cent by 2028. A presentation to Banff council at its July meeting showed 52 per cent of waste in the townsite is being diverted and the remaining 48 per cent to landfill.
Canmore’s large item collection program began in 2015, according to the project summary for the budget, and had 950 registered pickups. The number increased to 1,623 by 2021 as well as unscheduled pickups.
The staff report noted the quotes the Town got for the vehicle “were well above the approved budget”, necessitating a significant budget increase.
Simon Robins, supervisor of solid waste services, said he had spoken to operations staff the day of the Aug. 15 council meeting. Anecdotally, he said he was told between 10 and 30 per cent of material could be reusable.
He added residents are quite good at using the entire life of most material being having them potentially go to landfill.
“A lot of it is end of life material,” he said.
The report stated the existing vehicle is nearing seven years and by having two such vehicles, it will give the Town a backup to “minimize the likelihood of a service disruption” for the program.
The program runs about 300 days a year, with a second vehicle making it possible to be available all 365 days.
The one-tonne vehicle, according to the capital budget, would also have a snow plow kit built into it.
“This large item pickup is something that’s not found everywhere,” said Canmore Mayor Sean Krausert. “It’s a real benefit to our community, so it’s certainly something I’ve utilized and it’s easy. It may not always be the exact day you want because it’s being utilized well.”
