• Your recyclables are sorted and prepared for market
• Your garbage is used to create valuable compost at North America’s largest composting facility
• Decomposing garbage inside a landfill is used to create electricity
• A new waste-to-biofuels facility will help Edmonton reach a 90 per cent waste diversion rate by turning non-recyclable and non-compostable waste into ethanol
• E-waste such as computers and TVs are recycled
• Close-loop recycling of paper is taking place in Edmonton and producing chemical free paper

For more information visit Environment Week Tours.

In celebration of Environment Week the City of Edmonton is asking residents to go green: when cutting the grass, remove the bag from your lawnmower and leave the clippings on the lawn.

“This is a call to action to help reduce the amount of waste we produce in a convenient, simple and environmentally sustainable way,” says Councillor Don Iveson. “Almost 60% of Edmontonians are already leaving the clippings on the lawn, but we need the remaining 40% to get on board.”

Grass clippings account for almost half the waste collected during the spring and summer months. An average household sets out 40 to 50 bags of clippings, which adds up to 40,000 tonnes of grass that is still being collected. This is equivalent to the weight of 3,077 City buses.

“Instead of going through the trouble of bagging the clippings and setting them out for collection, leave them on the lawn. It’s good for your lawn and it saves you time,” says Councillor Iveson. “Simple changes like this can have a positive impact on the environment when we all participate.”

Grass clippings quickly decompose and naturally fertilize the lawn, meaning less chemical fertilizer is needed. The practice of leaving clippings on the lawn also reduces the need for water and reduces greenhouse gas emissions. 

Go Bagless, leave the clippings on the lawn and add one day of rest to your summer.

For more information please visit LeaveItOnYourLawn.com.

The on-again, off-again warming trends of late winter and early spring have caused significant issues on many of Edmonton’s roadways, but the City of Edmonton has been hard at work behind the scenes trying to address the challenges of both aging infrastructure and numerous freeze/thaw cycles that have take their toll on our city’s roadways.

Transportation Services, by way of its Engineering Services Quality Assurance Laboratory, has spent nearly a decade researching the materials and processes used by the City of Edmonton in roadway construction and maintenance. In fact, Edmonton is the only municipality in Canada to invest in the expertise, equipment (some of which exceeds the capabilities of many universities in Canada), as well as a facility to conduct this research.

“We’re able to obtain a wide variety of asphalt mixtures, subject them to rigorous simulations involving traffic volumes, weight and temperature, and discover what combinations would work best in specific locations,” said Hugh Donovan, Construction Service Engineer. “There are many variables we have to consider when determining exactly the right mix for Edmonton roadways.”

Testing on materials is done not only in the laboratories, but patches of material are also laid on current roadways in order to assess durability and effectiveness in real world situations. The results from the numerous studies performed by the Engineering Services Section have been presented at conferences and forums in Canada and around the world.

“The issues that Edmonton is facing with its roads, potholes in particular, are not unique by any means,” added Donovan. “The research work that we are conducting not only has the potential to help us find materials that are right for our city’s transportation network, but can also assist other municipalities determine what works best for them.”

In addition to its quality assurance testing and research programs, Engineering Services is also responsible for geotechnical engineering, landslide and erosion monitoring and repair, environmental engineering and research, surveying on City projects, as well as noise and vibration monitoring. The Section is also responsible for the City’s trailblazing and internationally recognized winter street sand and construction aggregate recycling programs.

The rainfall in the past 72 hours has significantly lowered the Fire Weather Index and has offset the extreme fire danger for the week ahead.

The fire ban prohibited burning activities such as open burning, backyard fire pits, solid fuel cook stoves in parks and fireworks. A reminder that permits are always required for open burning and fireworks.

Fire Rescue Services thanks the public for their compliance and cooperation while the fire ban was in effect.

The Urban Recycler newsletter contains a handy 1 page guide to help residents sort household waste into recycling, garbage, and Eco Station streams. Also included are tips about how to reduce your waste by grasscycling, where to take reusable items and how to book a tour of the Edmonton Waste Management Centre.

Have you been wondering what to do with your dead batteries? How about empty windshield washer bottles – can you put them in a blue bag? How much does it cost to dispose of a sofa at the Eco Station? The newsletter answers these and many more waste questions. 

The Urban Recycler will be distributed during the week of May 27, 2013. If you haven’t received it by June 5, call 311 to have a copy sent to you, or download the Urban Recycler.

• Saturday May 25, 2013, 9:30 to 11:30am
• Saturday June 8, 2013, 9:30 to 11:30am
• If more pulls are needed, dates will be posted on Garlic Mustard Pulls

Mill Creek Ravine is one of few known locations in Edmonton where this non-native and invasive species has been discovered. Garlic Mustard can take over large areas of woodland and cause negative long-term effects to native soils, vegetation and wildlife.

The meeting point for all pulls will be on the corner of 91 Street and 77 Avenue. Snacks and water will be provided.

The pulls will be weather dependent. Please check the City of Edmonton Facebook and Twitter pages for updates if the weather is poor.

Nominations to recognize your neighbourhood’s most vibrant front yards are open until June 30, 2013. Edmonton’s Front Yards in Bloom program, the largest of its kind in Canada, recognizes beautiful front yards and promotes community spirit.

Nominations are being accepted in three categories – natural, edible or just plain pretty – until June 30, 2013 via:   

• Online at www.frontyardsinbloom.ca
• Email to front.yards@edmonton.ca
• Phone 311

Once nominations close, volunteers will visit each yard to deliver a certificate and decal. Edmonton’s top yards are then chosen to receive awards, with winners announced during the Edmonton in Bloom Awards on August 15, 2013 at City Hall.

Edmonton’s Front Yard in Bloom program is a partnership between the City of Edmonton, Edmonton Horticultural Society and the Civic Union of Postal Workers with support from the Realtors Association of Edmonton.

Please watch for brand new logo and signs this year. If you currently have a nomination sign from a previous year, we encourage you to display it in your front yard.

Learn more about the program and submit your nomination at www.frontyardsinbloom.ca.

New this year is Balconies in Bloom hosted by the Edmonton Federation of Community Leagues. This is a new way to celebrate green urban spaces that make our city skyline more beautiful. Please see the facebook page for more details: www.facebook.com/BalconiesInBloom.

“These are exciting times for our City,” says Mayor Stephen Mandel. “With this new facility in operation we are now able to close the loop on recycling paper products from our waste. We are proud to be working with Greys to launch their innovative processes and products here in Edmonton.”

Edmonton-based Greys Paper Recycling Industries is bringing proprietary expertise to its partnership with the City, using waste paper and old cotton clothes to produce a variety of paper products.

“We are ready to start selling our unique products in the Edmonton area,” says Rajan Ahluwalia, Chief Executive Officer of Greys Paper Recycling Industries. “Our process does not use any raw materials or harsh chemicals. Instead, it recycles office paper and white cotton pulp to create new, post-consumer paper products.”

Construction of the facility’s $20 million, two eco-friendly domes started in 2010. The City contributed $5 million to capital funding.

Citizens are invited to get involved in the new Edmonton Food Council. The Food Council will advise the City of Edmonton on issues around food and urban agriculture.

The Edmonton Food Council is the first step in implementing fresh, the food and urban agriculture strategy approved by City Council in November 2012.

“We are looking for energetic people who will have an active role in supporting the implementation of fresh,” says Hani Quan, Principal Planner with Sustainable Development. “We are looking forward to working in partnership with our community to achieve the goals of fresh.”

The Edmonton Food Council will have 15 members representing a diverse range of experience, skills, knowledge and cultural backgrounds. Membership of the Council will also be made up of those involved in the various dimensions of the food system including: production, processing, distribution, buying and selling, eating and celebration, waste and recovery, education and governance.

Edmonton joins a growing number of municipalities with food councils in Canada including: Toronto, Vancouver, Kamloops, Calgary, Winnipeg, and Ottawa.

Nomination forms for the Edmonton Food Council can be downloaded at www.edmonton.ca/foodandag.

“Edmonton is privileged to be one of only a few municipalities in Canada that funds a mosquito management program,” said James Wilke, director of Animal Care and Control. “A lot of work and expertise goes into our program each season.”

The campaign focuses on reducing mosquito populations at the larval stage, before they emerge as adults. This is a safer and more environmentally friendly approach than controlling adult mosquitoes. Managing adult mosquitoes through wide-scale fogging is undesirable because it affects beneficial insects like dragonflies and unnecessarily exposes people and animals to mosquito spraying.

“Our most successful method for reducing pest populations is to attack the immature stages of the pest's life cycle when they are most vulnerable,” said Mike Jenkins, biological sciences technician with the City of Edmonton. “Experience has shown that controlling larvae is more effective because it reduces the number of mosquitoes that actually hatch into adults.”

The City of Edmonton focuses on treating mosquito larvae by helicopter, by truck and by officers on foot. For speed and efficiency, more than 90% of the treatment areas are done by a contracted helicopter service that applies dry, granular larvicide formulations to standing bodies of water, including roadside ditches and non-permanent pools of water.

All products used for the City's mosquito control program are approved by Health Canada and deemed safe for their intended use. City mosquito control staff are certified by Alberta Environment and meet stringent standards for the application of mosquito control products.

For more information on pest management and tips on how you can protect yourself from mosquitoes, visit www.edmonton.ca/mosquito.