Rolling Towards Sustainability: Curbside Recycling in Cochrane

By Sharon Howland

The Town of Cochrane proudly launched its new Automated Waste and Recycling program on September 1st, 2011. The Roll With It Cochrane program brings our community one step closer to achieving the sustainability goals outlined in the Cochrane Sustainability Plan.

The new Automated Waste and Recycling program is a greener, cleaner, more efficient way to provide waste and recycling collection services to our residents. The program reaches almost 6,000 households that now have access to a convenient weekly curbside recycling service.

The pathways described in the Cochrane Sustainability Plan outline the steps Cochrane needs to take to achieve our sustainability goals. We are responsible citizens of the planet. We take responsibility for the resources we consume, the energy we use and the waste that we generate. The Roll With It Cochrane program allows Cochrane residents to easily and actively participate as responsible stewards of our planet.

Through its convenience alone, the Roll With It Cochrane program is expected to increase recycling levels within Cochrane — leading to an increase in recyclables collected and diverted from the landfill. Taking into consideration the emissions associated with the collection vehicles, the processing of the materials and the remanufacturing of recyclables into new products, the Roll With It Cochrane program will lead to a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to removing almost 800 passenger vehicles from the road.

While the program has only just launched, Cochrane residents are already embracing it. An estimated 85 per cent of households are placing their recycling carts out for collection weekly, whereas in the past only 25 – 27 per cent of Cochrane residents were recycling on a regular basis at the Recycling Depot. The first full week of recycling collection saw 44 MT of recyclables collected – this is the same as the amount of recycling dropped off at the Cochrane Recycling Depot in a whole month!

The Roll With It Cochrane program and the expansion of services at the Cochrane Eco Centre (formerly the Recycling Depot) scheduled for 2012 are both steps in the right direction towards achieving our sustainability goals. Waste reduction and recycling are perhaps the easiest ways for us to have an immediate positive impact on the environmental sustainability of our community. Cochrane has always boasted about the natural beauty of our surroundings – the Roll With It Cochrane program is one way we as a community can contribute to sustaining that natural heritage.

Sharon Howland is the Solid Waste Manager for The Town of Cochrane.