Garbage and Recycling for Residents - Moving towards Zero Waste

Garbage going to landfill takes up ever-growing space in the world, and Alberta is no different. Although there is no longer a landfill (dump) in Banff National Park, our community still creates garbage that is trucked to other landfills in Alberta.

The Town of Banff strives to be an environmental leader, but that’s not possible if we continue to produce so much landfill garbage. We must reduce our community’s contribution to landfill, which takes away nature and harm the environment. Waste sent to landfill produces large amounts of harmful greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. Vast amounts of water, energy, and rare materials are required to produce the goods we consume. When we dispose of goods shortly after consuming or purchasing them, there is also a massive climate impact from wasted resources.

Currently, almost 70% of waste created by Banff residents goes to landfill.

The Town of Banff does not use a curbside waste collection because that would attract wildlife into town, which could be deadly for carnivores and dangerous to people and pets. Our bear-proof neighbourhood bins have successfully reduced human-wildlife conflict, but they can be unfamiliar for many new residents, and they present a challenge for some.

To help achieve the Town’s goal of Zero Waste going to landfill by 2050, more residential food scraps bins and recycling bins are being added in our community. More bins should make it easier for residents to stop waste going to landfill from Banff, but we have a way to go.

With your input, we aim to shrink our community’s waste footprint, improve the use of bins, and move towards zero waste going to landfill.

Survey

Our Summer 2021 Survey is now closed. We are preparing results and will post the full What We Heard report this fall.