Zero Waste

The District of Squamish aims to decrease the diversion of waste from landfill to 80%, and reduce per capita landfill waste to 300 kg.

View the Zero Waste Strategy.

Upcoming Events

April 5 from 10 am to 2 pm at The 55 Activity Centre

A Repair Café event is designed for the community to meet and bring their broken possessions to be fixed by a group of local volunteers. It’s about repairing together, learning from each other, and promoting a more sustainable approach to our belongings. Plus, it’s free of charge!

Need something fixed? This Repair Café will have fixers who can help with the following areas/items:

  • Sewing and mending clothes, patching holes and tears, sewing on buttons, and restitching
  • Bike repairs and tune-ups
  • Furniture repairs
  • Small appliances and electronics
  • Eyecare fixes
  • Jewelry repairs
  • General carpentry

Please ensure that the clothes you bring are clean. Our sewing team is always in high demand, so we kindly ask that you limit yourself to three textile or clothing items. Please be reminded that you are expected to stay while your item is being repaired.

Interested in Volunteering? Contact [email protected]

May 24 from 10 am to 3 pm at Brennan Park Recreation Centre

Join us for the Kids Clothing, Toy, and Book Swap. The perfect time to donate some clothes, purge those outgrown toys and add a few more books to the collection.

Bagged clothes, toys, and books can be dropped off in advance at Brennan Park Recreation Centre on:

  • May 23 from 5 to 7 pm
  • May 24 from 10 to 11 am (no later)

Don’t have anything to bring? No problem! Come and see what treasures you can find.

Kids Clothing, Toy, and Book Swap Guidelines:

  • All items must be clean and in good condition
  • When you drop off items, please help us sort them.
  • Avoid bringing large amounts of bagged items.
  • All leftover items will be donated to local charities and Big Brothers of Greater Vancouver.

Questions or are interested in volunteering? Email [email protected]

June 7 from 9 am to 3 pm at Brennan Park Recreation Centre

What's accepted?

  • Small appliances in good working order or in need of minor repair.
  • Large appliances in good working order.
  • Furniture, household items, garden tools, sports equipment, pet accessories, fabrics, crafting and stationary items, games, and seasonal items in reasonable condition.

What's not accepted?

  • TVs, computers, printers, VCRs (recycle these at the Bottle Depot).
  • Toys and other kids’ accessories (there will be a specific kid’s swap in October).
  • Clothing (there will be a clothing and book swap in October).
  • Books(there will be a clothing and book swap in October).
  • Mattresses (recycle these at the landfill). ·
  • Items broken or damaged beyond repair.

Please note:

  • Folks will be asked to self-sort.
  • Volunteers will be on-site to help find the right location for items.
  • Items need to be clean and in working order.
  • We are unable to accept broken or dirty items.
  • We can only accept items that fit in the categories listed above.

Drop off items will ONLY be accepted between 9 am to 1 pm.

This event is organized by the District of Squamish and the Squamish Climate Action Network to advance a circular economy and reduce avoidable waste. Interested in volunteering? Email [email protected]

Waste Diversion

Squamish has many waste diversion options, including:

  • multiple drop-off locations for recycling and organics
  • residential recycling and organics collection for all single-family and townhouses
  • a free paint recycling location
  • a drop off for reusable construction materials at Squamish ReBuild
  • several extremely active non-governmental volunteer-based groups

How you can help

Practice the habit of bringing your own bag, cup, straw or other commonly used item to reduce waste in our community.

Composting food scraps, paper towels, dryer lint, coffee filters and other organic materials is the single most effective way to reduce your garbage waste. If you are unsure as to what materials can go in your organics tote, enter the item in our Waste Wizard lookup tool to find out where to recycle or dispose of it.

Cardboard, mixed paper, plastic containers, and metal such as tin and aluminum cans can all be recycled in the curbside recycling program. Styrofoam and plastic bags, overwrap/film and any glass that cannot be returned for a refund can be dropped off at the GFL Recycling Depot or the Squamish Landfill. 

Buy bulk when possible and look for “pure” packaging products such as glass.

Keep bins for recycling, organics, glass, bottles and cans where you are likely to use it most, and consider setting up small containers in other rooms of your home, such as the washroom.

Previously loved goods are an excellent way to cut down on cost and packaging.

You can make a surprising number of things yourself (and save some serious cash at the same time). From bread to clothing to laundry soap, for recipes check out the Living Green website.

Read about recycling and going waste-free to learn about what others are doing. Watch The Story of Stuff, an eye opening animated, short film about the cycle of waste and consumerism. There is a lot of information out there that can help you reduce your garbage.

Writing a letter or calling a company goes a long way.

 

Waste hierachy. Bottom level (least perferred, least impact:) Dispose - send to landfill. Second level - Recover - recover energy from waste, third level - recycle - recycle waste into new products, fourth level - reuse. reuse material as many times as possible. top level (most preferred, most impact) avoid/reduce - reduce total waste created in thh first place.

Waste by the Numbers

  • 480 kg - the average of garbage disposed of per person in the District of Squamish in 2023. 
  • 350 kg - the target set by BC's Ministry of Environment of garbage disposed of per person per year by 2020. 
  • 505 kg - the provincial average of garbage disposed of per person in 2018.
  • 525 kg - the average of garbage disposed of per person in the Squamish Lillooet Regional District in 2012.

 

Squamish waste produced per capita per year. 2004=932kg, 2008=1111kg, residential curbside collection introduced 2009, 979kg, 213=688kg, residential organics collection introduced 2015 634kg, 2019 542kg, 2023=480kg

Waste composition October 2020: 29.8% organics, 20.6% paper, 18.3% paper, 3.9% building material, 3.5% glass, 3.5% textiles, 3.1% garbage.

In August 2020, the District of Squamish conducted a waste audit of what is being thrown in the garbage. The above chart represents the breakdown of the overall findings. View the full waste composition report here.

Some of the key findings from the Waste Composition Report - 

  • From Curbside Residential Collection, over 30% of the garbage is compostable. More than 10% of the garbage is avoidable Food Waste. 
  • Compostable Paper and Avoidable Food Waste are the 2 largest categories of material in Commercial Waste. They represent over 30% of the material in the garbage. 
  • 21% of the material in Multi-Family Garbage could be recycled at a Drop Off Depot, and 31% could be composted. 
  • Over 40% of the waste from the Construction and Demolition sector is Wood. 

Resources


Waste Reduction

http://youtu.be/Mh-gFOoTYrc 

You Can Live Without Producing Trash

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYDQcBQUDpw

Archive

Zero Waste Strategy 2016

Curbside Collection FAQs

read more

Curbside collection logo

Collection schedule and electronic reminders

learn more

View the Solid Waste Utility and Regulation Bylaw