St. Albert keeps chipping away at waste, says a new report, with residents setting new records in recycling and water use.
The standing committee on finance received a draft of the city’s 2010 annual report on April 11. In it was an update on the city’s progress towards its environmental goals.
St. Albert residents used just 266 litres of water each per day in 2010, according to the report — about 14 less than the previous year.
That came as a pleasant surprise to Meghan Myers, the city’s environmental co-ordinator.
“We didn’t do much public awareness last year, so [the drop] is certainly coming from the residents.” Greater awareness, upgraded water fixtures and last year’s wet weather may all have contributed to the drop.
St. Albert’s per capita water use peaked around 2003, according to the city’s annual report on the environment, and has fallen ever since. The city hopes to get water use down to 200 litres per person per day by 2020 under its environmental master plan.
The office of the environment is working on a water conservation strategy this year to encourage further savings, Myers says. That strategy might include a neighbourhood-level demographics study that would highlight water use in parts of the city and better target conservation efforts.
The city collected about 10,144 tonnes of trash last year — about 636 tonnes less than 2009, and equivalent to about 169 kilograms per person. The city hopes to toss just 125 kg of waste per person by 2020.
The city also collected about 900 more tonnes of recyclables and 136 more tonnes of compost in 2010 than it did in 2009. Myers attributed the rise to the start of curbside recycling. “I really think we’ll see less solid waste once we implement the [curbside] compost as well.”
The state of the city report can be found in the April 11 minutes of the finance committee. The 2010 state of the environment report will be released on April 30.
Eco-fans will have to celebrate Earth Day at home this year, say organizers — the big Edmonton celebration has been called off.
April 22 is Earth Day, an international celebration meant to raise environmental awareness. Edmonton has held a large, free Earth Day festival almost every year for the last 21 years, often in spite of bitter cold and snow. The event moved indoors last year to Blatchford Hangar in Fort Edmonton Park.
This year’s celebration was originally scheduled for May 1, says organizer Janice Boudreau, but in March she learned that she would be out of the country on that date. With no other dates available for the hangar and no one else available to organize, the event committee decided to cancel this year’s festivities.
One of the problems with Edmonton’s Earth Day is the small number of people willing to organize it, says Peter Jansen, the St. Albert musician who helped with such efforts until 2002. “We need to get more people involved, badly.” He called on all current and past Earth Day volunteers to step up and help out next year’s event.
Many local groups have stepped up to fill the void left by the cancellation, Boudreau notes. “It’s kind of the silver lining.” Earth’s General Store has planned a day of eco-displays and demonstrations, for example, while the Beacon Heights Community League had planned a Reuse Fair, a seed exchange and more. Earth Day 2012 will be held at Fort Edmonton Park next year, she adds.
Edmonton Earth Day events can be found at edmontonearthday.ca.
