Waste & Recycling plan and budget
Waste & Recycling service is focused on enabling Calgarians to reduce and manage their waste responsibly, now and into the future. The service delivers residential Black Cart, Blue Cart, Green Cart programs, container collection, as well as several community-based waste reduction and diversion programs.
The service also manages operations and environmental performance at The City’s three active and five closed landfill sites. Waste & Recycling is responsible for planning, delivering and maintaining its assets to meet current and future service needs.
Our customers
- Calgary's residents
- businesses and organizations.
- Other waste generators and haulers in the Calgary region
Our partners
- Other City services & contractors
- Waste Organizations (Alberta Recycling Management Authority, Recycling Council of Alberta, Green Calgary, Compost Council of Canada, National Zero Waste Council)
- Education and community organizations (universities, school boards, community associations)
- Governments (federal, provincial, municipal)
Value to Calgarians
- protects health and the environment by safely removing waste from homes, businesses and communities, competently and reliably
- provides services and information on how to reduce waste and properly dispose of garbage, recyclables, food and yard waste and household hazardous waste.
- manages waste in compliance with regulatory requirements to protect the environment
- continually improves and modernizes services to manage costs for customers
What we deliver
- Programs, education, information and bylaws that enable customers to waste less and conserve more
- Collection and processing services that support Calgarians to manage waste responsibly.
- Access to waste management facilities and manage processes, infrastructure and technologies that protect Calgary's environment and reduce greenhouse gas emissions
Budget breakdown
Operating and capital budgets explained
The City develops two budgets to create impact aligned with Council’s Strategic Direction:
- The four-year (2023-2026) operating plans and budgets
- The five-year (2023-2027+) capital plans and budgets
The operating budget includes revenues, recoveries and spending related to ongoing operations. These include:
- Salaries, wages and benefits.
- Day to day programs, maintenance and services.
- Administration costs (e.g., insurance).
- Fuel
- Utilities
- Capital financing costs.
The City's total net operating budget is zero. This means we budget to collect the revenue needed to deliver services to Calgarians — no more, no less. We collect this revenue through property taxes and other sources.
The capital budget pays for long-lived assets. These provide the foundation for the services Calgarians rely on. They include:
- Maintenance of current infrastructure (e.g., bridges, buildings and playgrounds).
- Upgrades to existing community infrastructure.
- New infrastructure to provide services in areas that are underserved (e.g., Green Line).
- New infrastructure for growing areas of the city.
Learn more about our 2023-2026 Service Plans and Budgets.
See how the budget has been adjusted since November 2022
Measuring performance
We are measuring our performance in five areas. Each value is the goal we expect to reach by 2026.
What we've heard
The 2022 Spring Pulse survey ranked Waste & Recycling as a primary strength for The City of Calgary based on high satisfaction (85%) and importance (98%) results. Engagement with customers indicated a desire to reduce waste and minimize negative impacts on the environment, aligning with our mission statement "To enable Calgarians to reduce and manage their waste responsibly, now and into the future."
Through One Calgary engagement, Calgarians identified affordable, transparent, and fair rates and environmental protection as the top two value characteristics for our service, followed by service reliability, accessibility and safety.
Participate and view results of City research
What we're watching
- The primary trends and risks affecting Waste & Recycling relate to financial sustainability and customer relationships.
- Global changes to recycling markets, evolving regulations and service changes in response to customer needs and expectations affect the cost of service we deliver.
- Efforts to finance our future and improve financial sustainability by moving toward a cost of service model also impacts our rates and customer relationships.
- The City is working toward extended producer responsibility and enabling waste reduction, reuse and a more circular economy.
- Continued engagement of customers to strengthen the relationship with Calgarians enable better customer service and increased participation in programs.
- These efforts support our shared responsibility to reduce and manage waste responsibly, now and into the future to protect the environment and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Our initiatives
What we plan to do
We will enable Calgarians to reduce and manage their waste responsibly now and into the future.
How we're going to get there
- Deliver safe and efficient waste processing and disposal services at The City’s waste management facilities by complying with regulatory requirements and continually improving assets and operations in response to service demand.
- Provide safe and reliable collection services for residential black, blue and green cart programs by adjusting to demand, continually improving service performance and investing in technology and responding to growth.
- Continue supporting Calgarians and the community to reduce and manage their waste responsibly by providing community-wide waste management programs.
- Provide safe and reliable container collection services to multi-residential developments, businesses and organizations through investments in technology and responding to customer needs.
- Enable Calgarians to move towards zero waste and a more circular economy by improving access to and participation in waste reduction and diversion through communications, education, enforcement and engagement with customers.