Calgary recycles - Page 5

Ramsayfarian · #81 Posted **Mar 30, 2009, 1:38 AM**

I can really feel the love in this thread. With regards to the topic, Penn & Teller did a interesting piece on recycling.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Sp8PzgY7XA

Currently I only recycle beer cans and bottles. I'm doing my part for the environment by not having kids. My carbon footprint ends soon after I kick the bucket.

srperrycgy · #82 Posted **Mar 30, 2009, 3:48 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ramsayfarian

I'm doing my part for the environment by not having kids.

I'm in complete agreement.

craneSpotter · #83 Posted **Mar 31, 2009, 8:02 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by shreddog

I don't mean to pick on Vancouver, but as an example to how far Calgary has gone towards processing ALL waste water, Vancouver still releases more untreatment human effluent into the ocean than Calgary's release of untreated RAIN water into the Bow. Think about that, Calgary releases a lower volume of untreated rain water into the environment than Vancouver does of shit water.

BTW, rain water in our cities carries all kinds of things ranging from oils and heavy metals from our cars to dog shit and fertilizars. Since Calgary is part of a semi-arid environment it has historically focused a lot of its energy - and cash - into making sure that the water we send to Sask is clean and useable!

Well, to be fair, Calgary HAS to treat their wastewater to higher standards than most other cities.

Why? Because the Bow is a relatively small river (volume) and has a limited ability to assimilate wastewater plant effluent without seriously reducing downstream water quality. So the city had to set very high treament standards to meet environmental requirements (for concentrations). But kudos! They did a good job of what they had to do.

freeweed · #84 Posted **Mar 31, 2009, 12:45 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by craneSpotter

Well, to be fair, Calgary HAS to treat their wastewater to higher standards than most other cities.

Why? Because the Bow is a relatively small river (volume) and has a limited ability to assimilate wastewater plant effluent without seriously reducing downstream water quality. So the city had to set very high treament standards to meet environmental requirements (for concentrations). But kudos! They did a good job of what they had to do.

Err.. while other cities just piss off their downstream neighbours.

There's having to do something, and then there's doing extra to be nice. Believe me, Calgary could do a lot less treatment and just tell smaller centres downstream to sod off - it's how most large Canadian cities behave. Don't kid yourself, volume or not, downstream of many Canadian cities is highly unpleasant.

Unless there's some Alberta-specific legislation that requires it, in which case kudos to the province.

Jimby · #85 Posted **Mar 31, 2009, 1:40 PM**

Strathmore is putting untreated waste in to the Bow. To be allowed to do that, they had to agree to supply bottled water for the Siksika Nation downstream.

mersar · #86 Posted **Mar 31, 2009, 4:06 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jimby

Strathmore is putting untreated waste in to the Bow. To be allowed to do that, they had to agree to supply bottled water for the Siksika Nation downstream.

Yeah, I'd heard of that before.

Whereas in Cochrane we were actively discouraged from even putting treated wastewater into the Bow by the city, instead we now pipe it all into Calgary and let them treat it. On the upside, we never have to worry about building a new treatment plant, rather just upgrading the pipe and pump stations.

Wooster · #87 Posted **Mar 31, 2009, 4:45 PM**

^ Bunch of freeloaders.

Doug · #88 Posted **Mar 31, 2009, 5:44 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by freeweed

Err.. while other cities just piss off their downstream neighbours.

There's having to do something, and then there's doing extra to be nice. Believe me, Calgary could do a lot less treatment and just tell smaller centres downstream to sod off - it's how most large Canadian cities behave. Don't kid yourself, volume or not, downstream of many Canadian cities is highly unpleasant.

Unless there's some Alberta-specific legislation that requires it, in which case kudos to the province.

Calgary only began tertiary treatment in 1985. Before that it ONLY had the secondary treatment that many Canadian cities still don't have. Prior to tertiary treatment, the Bow would suffer some algae blooms in the late summer and fall when water temperature are higher and water flow low. Downstream communities such as Medicine Hat and Saskatoon did complain. The impact of tertiary treatment on the river was immediate. The next big step in water quality came in the mid 90's when primary treatment of storm water began. Clarity has improved considerably since then and continues to improve.

Wooster · #89 Posted **Mar 31, 2009, 5:49 PM**

One water quality issue that needs to be cleared up is the Stampede's back of house operations. There's all sorts of horse shit that ends up mucking up the Elbow and results in high e coli counts downstream.

Yume-sama · #90 Posted **Mar 31, 2009, 8:58 PM**

Just got mine today. I got more excited than I maybe should have

Stang · #91 Posted **Mar 31, 2009, 9:06 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yume-sama

Just got mine today. I got more excited than I maybe should have

I was driving down Richmond Road this morning and noticed loads of these things sitting at the ends of people's sidewalks. They must have just been delivered. Good to see.

jeffwhit · #92 Posted **Apr 1, 2009, 2:19 AM**

^^ I'm going to THRILLED when mine arrives. The system they are providing totally appeals to my laze.

Rusty van Reddick · #93 Posted **Apr 1, 2009, 3:47 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stang

I was driving down Richmond Road this morning and noticed loads of these things sitting at the ends of people's sidewalks. They must have just been delivered. Good to see.

I'm getting nervous- city website says Bankview by April 3 but it seems they've all been dropped off in Connaught as of several days ago.

freeweed · #94 Posted **Apr 1, 2009, 4:53 AM**

I'm trying to figure out how this thing is going to be wheeled through an icy slush wasteland. Bags are easy enough to carry and drop reasonably close to the street/lane, but here's hoping this bin isn't quite as large and cumbersome as I fear.

mersar · #95 Posted **Apr 1, 2009, 5:20 AM**

Well on the upside at least they went with a model with fairly large wheels which should make it a bit easier, especially compared to the style that I've seen other cities use:

shreddog · #96 Posted **Apr 1, 2009, 12:59 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jimby

Strathmore is putting untreated waste in to the Bow. To be allowed to do that, they had to agree to supply bottled water for the Siksika Nation downstream.

NO!!!!

Strathmore treats it's sewage better than just about every city in Canada. It recently completed a full upgrade to its treatment facility to provide for complete secondary treatment of all effluent with enough capacity to support a town of 50K people (we can debate the value of that decision elsewhere).

The issue was not that it ever wanted to release raw sewage (Alberta Environment would never allow that - Alberta has the strictest water/effluent release laws in Canada) but rather where in the Bow water system the town was going to release its treated effluent. The town initiallly wanted to have the outflow in a side channel of the river somewhat close to intakes near the reserve - not the best original decision. Eventually, the outflow was moved into a main channel of the river far from any intakes and there has been no problems ever since.

Again, Alberta has the strictest laws in Canada regarding the treatment and release of waste water. Raw sewage release would never be allowed for Strathmore.

BTW, I am not aware of any situation with the town providing bottle water - do you have a link as I am curious??

shreddog · #97 Posted **Apr 1, 2009, 1:08 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by craneSpotter

Well, to be fair, Calgary HAS to treat their wastewater to higher standards than most other cities.

Why? Because the Bow is a relatively small river (volume) and has a limited ability to assimilate wastewater plant effluent without seriously reducing downstream water quality. So the city had to set very high treament standards to meet environmental requirements (for concentrations). But kudos! They did a good job of what they had to do.

While there is some truth to your statement - Alberta DOES have the strictest environmental laws in Canada regarding treatment and release of waste water - I suggest you re-read Kyle's post as he summed it up nicely.

Cities have fixed budgets. As such, a city that has access to a large body of water but little access to land will focus on reducing its solid wastes first. Correspondingly, a city with access to large areas of land to dispose of solid waste but no where to hide its liquid wastes will focus on addressing liquid waste first. Calgary is obviously in the latter position.

What I find interesting though is cities like Vancouver and Toronto (for example) focused on reducing and properly handling of their solid waste earlier than Calgary while minimizing their effort to handle their liquid waste. Now that Calgary handles it solid waste as good as those two, when are Vancouver or Toronto going to get their act together and move out of the 1900's regarding the proper handling of their sewage???

Vancouver is planning to have full secondary treatment of all human waste water by 2030. Something Calgary had in 1985. Toronto has no plans to have full secondary treatment of all waste water.

What the hell is the excuse for these two cities to continue to use Mother Nature as their toilet?????

The real sad thing is that Toronto and Vancouver are significanly better in handling their waste than many other cities in Canada. It really is a shame what most cities pump into their environment!

Stang · #98 Posted **Apr 1, 2009, 2:43 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by furrycanuck

I'm getting nervous- city website says Bankview by April 3 but it seems they've all been dropped off in Connaught as of several days ago.

These ones were on the Glendale side of Richmond Road. The PDF on the city site lists Bankview as March 23-April 5th now, so you've still got time.

Jimby · #99 Posted **Apr 1, 2009, 2:57 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by shreddog

NO!!!!

Strathmore treats it's sewage better than just about every city in Canada. It recently completed a full upgrade to its treatment facility to provide for complete secondary treatment of all effluent with enough capacity to support a town of 50K people (we can debate the value of that decision elsewhere).

The issue was not that it ever wanted to release raw sewage (Alberta Environment would never allow that - Alberta has the strictest water/effluent release laws in Canada) but rather where in the Bow water system the town was going to release its treated effluent. The town initiallly wanted to have the outflow in a side channel of the river somewhat close to intakes near the reserve - not the best original decision. Eventually, the outflow was moved into a main channel of the river far from any intakes and there has been no problems ever since.

Again, Alberta has the strictest laws in Canada regarding the treatment and release of waste water. Raw sewage release would never be allowed for Strathmore.

BTW, I am not aware of any situation with the town providing bottle water - do you have a link as I am curious??

That is good news, I'm glad to be corrected. I guess treated effluent sounds like sewage to me. I remember reading in the Herald that Strathmore had to supply the reserve with bottled water.
Maybe it was a temporary thing?

mersar · #**100** Posted **Apr 11, 2009, 6:14 AM**

Seems the city has also launched a TV ad campaign promoting the blue cart program, just saw it on Global a few minutes ago. They also have the ads linked off the BlueCart web site (on the right side)