Welcome to Clean Calgary's E-Newsletter. You are receiving this because you indicated interest in receiving up to date environmental information and tips concerning Calgary and urban environmental issues.
In this issue:
- Clear the Clutter! Do you have old Christmas lights you need to dispose of?
- Ask Ashley - Disposing of Prescription Drugs Safely
- It’s Cold Season!! New Product
Plan It Calgary
The Land Use Planning & Policy department at the City of Calgary is undertaking an integrated land use and mobility plan project in order to develop a long-term plan for Calgary’s land use and transportation networks. The outcome of this planning will have profound and far-reaching implications for how our city will evolve.
This plan will be developed using the 11 Sustainability Principles, which were crafted from imagineCALGARY, City policy and Smart Growth principles and adopted by Council in 2007.
As a basis for discussion, decision making, and direction, the Plan It Calgary project has conceived and presented three city-wide scenarios that contain different land use patterns and transportation networks. City Council will determine land use and transportation strategy and policy based on a consideration of these scenarios and input from stakeholders, including all interested Calgarians.
If you would like more information about the Sustainability Principles, the Plan It Calgary process, proposed scenarios, and “Where do we grow from here?” workbook (which describes the three scenarios), please visit
http://www.calgary.ca/planit
or contact Megan Gauley at 268-2402.
Remember that you can register your opinion about how you would like Calgary to develop and evolve as a result of Plan It Calgary as well as other sustainability issues by calling the City of Calgary at 3-1-1 or contacting your Alderman directly.
Clear the Clutter!
Do you have old Christmas lights you need to dispose of?
Whether you have a box of old tangled and broken light strands, or you’ve recently switched to LED lights and need to dispose of the old ones that still work, here are some solutions for reuse and recycling:
Women in Need (WIN) Society 255-5102
Thrift Store donation accepted at: #1, 3525 26 Ave SE
Accepted: Lights MUST be in working condition, prefer LED strands
Unaccepted: Broken light strands
A fundraiser for the Weekend to end Breast Cancer
-bulbs will be painted pink and sold for donations to light up a bridge during July25-27, 2008
Contact for drop off details: almataylor@shaw.ca
Accepted: Outdoor large bulb strands, MUST be in working condition
Unaccepted: mini-lights, LED, indoor strands, icicle strands
Technotrash 265-2332
Drop off location: 4915-77 Ave SE
Accepted: Any type of Christmas light strand, bulbs are fine
Recycle Logic 1-403-348-0770
Drop off location: 4324 Quesnay-Wood Drive SW (Currie Barracks), Calgary, Alberta
Accepted: Any type of Christmas light strand
Unaccepted: Bulbs MUST be removed
Clean Calgary Association 230-1443
Drop off location: 809 4 Ave SW EcoStore Hours: Wed/Fri/Sat 10-4, Thurs. 10-7
Accepted: Any type of Christmas light strand, to be recycled
Membership Drive
Are you a member or wanting to become a member of the Clean Calgary Association?
We are currently in the process of updating our database. If you have any address, email address or phone number changes or just a question as to your renewal date, please contact Jennifer at 230-1443 ext. 225 or jen@cleancalgary.org
Members of Clean Calgary Association support our programs and services such as; Waste Wise and Calgary Materials Exchange, and education such as; Water for Life, Waste in our World, Master Composter course, Compost workshops, Waste at Home and Waste at Work presentations.
Other benefits include:
- 10% discount at the Clean Calgary Association EcoStore (excluding subsidized items)
- Discount on Clean Calgary workshops
- Upcoming events bulletins
- Monthly e-newsletter
- Access to library materials
- First choice of volunteer opportunities
- Members can vote at the Annual General Meeting
- Members can become Directors of the Clean Calgary Association
- Networking opportunities
Rates are $15/year for low income, $50/year for an individual, $75/year for non-profit and $200/year for a corporate membership.
Support Clean Calgary’s water conservation and waste reduction programs; strengthen Clean Calgary’s voice for environmental change; build a central hub for environmental activity! Join Us Today!
Ask Ashley - Disposing of Prescription Drugs Safely
Q:
Ashley,
We’ve recently sold our house and now we have the arduous task of cleaning it out and moving all of our things. What we won’t be keeping, giving away, selling or recycling will sadly have to go to the dump. We’ve tried our best to recycle most of the odds and ends but we’re having trouble with what seems to be an endless supply of old prescription and over-the-counter pills, tablets, syrups, etc. etc. Should we flush them, throw them in the garbage or is there somewhere we can take them for proper disposal?
Your help is greatly appreciated,
Peter & Jill
A:
Dear Peter & Jill,
It is estimated that 10,000 tonnes of pharmaceuticals are disposed of annually Canada-wide and because drugs are manufactured with the intention of performing a biological effect (altering our bodies to cure whatever ails us) it’s important that we take care in their disposal. Although many people still adhere to the long-held practice of flushing old medications down the toilet, a large number of studies have shown why this might not be the best option.
It seems that pharmaceuticals, hormones, personal care products (PCPs) and their metabolites are now widespread in aquatic environments world-wide, even after passing through some of the world’s best waste water treatment plants. Acute (i.e. immediate) effects tend to be limited due to the low concentrations found in the environment but the subtler, long term impacts of low-level exposure are becoming of greater concern, particularly because many of these drugs and their metabolites are disruptive to proper endocrine function, interfering with reproduction and development in wildlife and humans. Add to this the additive or synergistic effects of multiple drugs interacting and the problem only compounds.
It was these concerns that led the British Columbia government to enact the Waste Management Act – Post-Consumer Residual Stewardship in 1997, making all brand-owners responsible for the collection and management of left-over pharmaceutical products. This legislation was instrumental in creating Canada’s first pharmaceutical stewardship program and since then, in an attempt to address liability and other concerns, the Post-Consumer Pharmaceutical Stewardship Association
(PCPSA) has been established to administer this stewardship program nationwide. The program allows Albertan’s to return unused and expired medication to over 850 pharmacies province-wide where they are collected and “incinerated in an environmentally friendly manner.”
You may be asking yourself: but what about just throwing them in the garbage? This must surely be better than incinerating them. The problem with putting medication in the trash is that once the pill container enters the landfill, gets crushed under millions of tonnes of other waste, allowing the pills to interact with other items around it, it may be that the pills begin to dissolve much like in a persons stomach, leaching down to where all the liquids are collected, only to be treated at one of Calgary’s waste water treatment plants anyway.
So, given everything that I’ve written and with PCPSA beginning to use non-incineration thermal techniques to deal with pharmaceutical waste, I would encourage you to use your local pharmacy to dispose of any expired, unlabelled or unused medications. Keep in mind that the bulk of pharmaceuticals that enter our waterways aren’t from those bothersome leftovers but from the medications that we ingest and then excrete. So I guess it can be said that having fewer drugs in our bodies of water starts with us putting fewer drugs in our own bodies. That’s darn good material for a children’s book if you ask me!
Fitly,
Ashley
Ashley Lubyk, BSC in Environmental Science, formerly a Calgary Materials Exchange Program Assistant at Clean Calgary Association.
Please send your question concerning Water, Waste, or Recycling to Ashley Lubyk
It’s Cold Season!! New Product
The Ecostore is now carrying “Hankettes” Cotton Flannel Handkerchiefs, made from organically grown cotton without pesticides or chemicals. These are made by The Good Life Collective, “Natural Products made by Planet Lovers”.
Two styles are available.
Lace Handkerchiefs: A beautiful lace 10” x 10” for the feminine touch. Colours available are: natural, purple and brown, hand dyed with fibre reactive dyes. $12.50 each
Single Handkerchiefs: Hankette plain handkerchief 10” x 10” organic cotton flannel in natural, brown and purple hand dyed with fibre reactive dye. $4.25 each
All of the convenience of tissue without the waste! A box of 8 washable 10” x 10” handkerchiefs pull out of this refillable box. The box designs come in Earthtone Astro or Radical Primitives. $30.00 each
Napkin Sets: 4 organic cotton napkins, 14” x 14”. This set is available in natural or brown colour, hand dyed with fibre reactive dye. $20.75 per set of 4.
EcoStore – 809 4th Ave SW – 230.1443 ext. 222.
We are open Wed, Fri and Sat 10am – 4pm and Thu 10am – 7pm
Master Composter Course
6 weeks (20 hours total) certification course
Thursdays: February 7th to March 13th 6:30-9:30pm
Field trips (optional but fun!) Saturday February 23rd & March 1st
Cost: $200 or $75 plus a 25 hour time commitment
Learn home composting techniques from Clean Calgary’s Master Composters. Using hands on training you will learn how to turn your kitchen and yard waste into a valuable soil amendment for your lawn and garden.
As a graduate Master Composter you will have the leadership skills to teach home composting to friends and neighbours in the community.
No experience necessary, just a willingness to learn.
Once trained, Master Composters undertake a variety of community composting activities to fulfill their time commitment to Clean Calgary. These activities depend on the interests and preferences of the Master Composter. Some have arranged composting education sessions for their local churches or other community groups while others staff booths at gardening shows, deliver presentations, or educate their neighbors by example and by discussions over the back fence. We can help you determine what might work best for you.
The course will run with a minimum of 10 people and a maximum of 25 people. Please contact Lindsay @ 230-1443 ext 228 or by email at lindsay@cleancalgary.org to register.
Testimonial
"The Master Composter course was very informative; a great opportunity to meet people in the community, have fun and learn how to make Calgary a little more environmentally friendly."
- Dale Martin D'Silva
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