2012 Rs of Excellence Award Winners

In May, M.E. LaZerte School hosted the 2012 Alberta Student Leadership Conference as a zero waste event. The event included over 600 students and volunteers, and used biodegradable plates, cups and utensils that were collected for composting. Students were also asked to reuse their utensils throughout the conference, reused their water bottles for the duration, and were given a notebook made from reused one-sided paper. These efforts resulted in very little additional waste from this large event.

Bridon Cordage is one of the few companies that shows a commitment to closing the loop with its waste products. They make a unique product called Revolver Twine that is manufactured primarily from post-consumer baler twine. To get supply for their product, they have established an extensive collection network across the US, and have recently been accepting loads of twine from Alberta, offering a market for a material that has historically been very difficult to recycle.

With the recent introduction of curbside recycling and organics, combined with its unique pay-as-you-throw subscription garbage collection system, the City of St. Albert has managed to surpass environmental goals original set for the year 2020. The City now diverts over 65% of all waste material away from the landfill, and has lowered the residential landfill contribution to just 114 kg/person/year. These are both significant goals which place St. Albert as one of the leaders in the region and country for residential waste diversion.

This is a first in the hardware industry to offer a take-back solution for smoke alarms, CO alarms and combination alarms. This is an Extended Producer Responsibility program that gives the manufacturer the responsibility to deal with the products at end of life. First Alert also does not impose an Eco-fee on the products, instead internalizing the costs, rather than passing them directly onto consumers. This helps to keep the costs for these required life-safety devices that are part of the National Building Code to a minimum.

Sears Calgary NLC currently recycles cardboard, paper, catalogues, used beverage containers, wood, metal, clear plastics, plastic clothes hangers, expanded polystyrene, batteries, electronics and organic waste. The facility waste diversion rate currently sits at 80% – a remarkable improvement from 23% in 2010. In addition to all their recycling efforts, in the past year, they have started composting lawn clippings on-site. The resulting compost will be used in facility flower beds.