A massive composting facility has opened in the city’s southeast to handle the material collected in Green Carts and officials expect it will process 85 million kilograms of food and yard waste every year.
The city started building the Green Cart composting facility at the Shepard Waste Management site in 2015 and it is the largest facility of its kind in the country.
The facility is made up of three buildings and will turn the materials collected in Green Carts into nutrient-rich compost that will be used in the Calgary area.
The 48,402 square metre space is as big as eight football fields and it is expected to produce enough compost in a year to completely fill the Saddledome from floor to ceiling.
Most of the compost will be sold commercially but a portion will be held back and given away to Calgarians starting next year.
“We also will have a portion of that compost returned to the city and that compost will be donated to community gardens and it will also be given away to residents for free, and that would start in 2018 when we have that finished compost available,” said Phillipa Wagner, from Calgary Waste and Recycling.
Green Cart collection will begin in the southwest quadrant of the city on Tuesday.
For more information on the Green Cart composting facility, click HERE.
