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Environment Lethbridge educates residents about the city’s trashy reputation

Nov 9, 2016 | 3:16 PM

LETHBRIDGE –  Our city has a dubious distinction that it wants to shed and is trying to do it environmentally.

Lethbridge is one of the most wasteful cities in the country.

About 110,000 tonnes of waste is sent to the landfill each year. That works out to roughly 2,575 pounds of garbage, for each of the city’s 94,000 residents every year, or just over seven pounds of garage per person each day. 

Only 25-per cent of what you throw away is actual garbage and the rest is a waste of resources.

Environment Lethbridge Executive Director, Kathleen Sheppard says there are a number of reasons for those statistics.

“We are an industrial centre so, we have higher amounts of waste that comes from those kinds of activities and we are a community that doesn’t have a curbside recycling, so it’s not as convenient as some other places to be able to just take it (recyclables) out your back door step – so, it’s a combination of factors that make a difference.”

Environment Lethbridge has created an on-line narrative at wasteless.ca, which high-lights wasteful practices and reminds you how to deal with recyclables through available resources.