Happy Anniversary, Edmonton!

Okay, not that kind of anniversary exactly, but you do have to give the city of Edmonton some major congratulations. They were doing it before it was even cool. Doing what, you ask? Recycling. In this coming month, Edmonton will have the distinguished honor of celebrating the twentieth anniversary of its groundbreaking recycling program. While other cities still struggle to get even the most basic programs into effect, there are Edmonton children of legal voting age who have grown up knowing no other way.

While Calgary has yet to roll out curbside recycling, Edmonton’s environmentally friendly program is marking its 20th anniversary. The original “blue box” program started citywide in November 1988.

“It’s not hard to beat Calgary … especially on the environmental issues,” quipped Mayor Stephen Mandel.

Over the past two decades, Edmontonians have diverted 674,000 tonnes of recyclables from landfills. That’s equal to the weight of 170,000 elephants, say city officials. It would fill enough recycling trucks to form a convoy from the Alberta capital to Thunder Bay, Ont., according to a city release.

You don’t usually hear recyclables referred to in terms of elephant poundage, but it certainly applies and that is a lot of elephants indeed. The mayor hearkens back to a time when people were reluctant and wary of the fledgling eco-project and on how far it has come, as “now’s it’s automatic. You just do it as a way of life.” Not to leave Calgary out in the cold, the article also mentions that they are slated to start their recycling program in 2009. It may be a tad bit late, but we can’t all be trendsetters like Edmonton. The fact that it’s starting up at all is more than some can attest to. Way to go, Canada!

Photo via Flickr!

Tuesday, October 21st, 2008 at 12:27 pm and is filed under The Daily. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.