With a full year of blue cart recycling under our belts, the city says we're on target for doubling the amount of recyclables being diverted from our landfills.
But the city has an even loftier recycling target to hit by 2020.
Blue carts are diverting 25 per cent of household waste from the landfill. Before the blue cart program it was only 17 per cent.
The city's Paula Magdich says after a successful year of the blue cart program, the city is studying what's ending up in the landfill and how it can further divert recyclable material from it.
"We are conducting a waste composition study, so we are literally collecting samples of garbage and it's being sorted into various components. We're taking a look at what's going into the garbage from a single family sector, as well as multi-family and even commercial sectors."
At Green Calgary's Eco Store, staff says composters are key to reducing your household waste.
"Even a family of four it will take them a good year or more to fill up their bin, and that compost can be broadcast on your lawn in the spring, It can be worked into garden beds, it can be put under trees, it's full of nutrients, it can be used pretty much anywhere throughout the yard," says Ashley Lubyk.
She says composting will help the city reach its goal of diverting 80 per cent of household waste from our landfills by 2020.
In the city's most recent satisfaction survey, 86 per cent of Calgarians say they're satisfied with how Calgary's waste and recycling department is operating.
