2022 Cart Wizard results

Great job sorting Airdrie! During 2022, almost 10,000 houses were visited in Airdrie with the following receiving Cart Wizard stars: 

Throughout the summer, staff complete visual assessments of green (organics) and blue (recycling) carts for contamination and materials that don't belong. Residents either:

• Receive a 'cart wizard' sticker for correctly sorting and placing  their cart(s) OR
• Receive an educational orange 'oops tag' if additional assistance is needed to understand how to use the green and blue carts  

Reasons to properly sort your carts:

• In 2021, recycling contamination cost Airdrie $22,566.66 
• Sorting properly saves money, reduces truck emissions and reduces the likelihood of injury to workers

Incorrect items found in green carts include:

• Plastic (i.e. dog waste bags, garbage bags). 

  Bags need to be certified compostable, paper or newspaper. Plastic is NOT allowed in the green cart.

• Food in packaging (i.e. berries in a container, chips in bags).
  Remove all packaging before placing food in your organics cart. Rinse and recycle if possible.
• Coffee/soft drink cups. Empty and clean cups go in your blue cart. Lids and plastic straws are garbage.

Incorrect items found in blue carts include:

• Multi-materials. These are two or more items that can't be separated or plastics that can't be identified (i.e. shipping envelopes made of bubble wrap/paper,  Pringles© cans, plastic toys and cutlery). If items cannot be separated, please place in your garbage.
• Loose, stretchy plastic. Plastics that stretch (i.e. grocery bags, pop case overwrap) need to be bundled and tied into one stretchy bag.
• Bagged recycling. All recycling must be loose in your blue cart except for stretchy plastic and shredded paper.

Use our what goes where tool