Hey Calgary, Are You a Wishcycler?

I confess: I am a culprit of wishcycling. Wishcycling is defined as, “the practice of tossing questionable items in the recycling bin, hoping they can somehow be recycled” (1). As much as we may wish recycling wasn’t so complicated, unfortunately most of the time it can be. With lack of easy access to information, a lot of us find ourselves hovering over our various waste baskets, with an item in hand, wondering what to do with it. As a result, only about 10% of what is added to recycling streams, actually gets recycled (2). It is obvious that this take-make-dispose model is failing, so what can we do to improve it? We see two ways that we can all be part of the solution.

Spud’s waste reduction strategy

One solution to diverting items from the landfill is knowing what materials go in what waste stream to reduce contamination. Contamination is when items are placed in the wrong waste stream, such as recycling an apple core rather than putting it in the compost (3). This is problematic because when these wrongly sorted items end up at the processing facilities, they will not be sent to the right place- rather, they will be taken out and sent to the landfill (4). Second, we can reject the single-use items all together and opt for reusable alternatives!

At Spud, we have worked towards these solutions through various initiatives, such as through our Pink Bag Takeback program and through our grocery delivery model which uses reusable packaging to deliver our customer’s orders. But our efforts don’t stop there! We at Spud want to further support our customers who seek to reduce their contributions to waste. We have an exciting announcement related to this coming next week- stay tuned!!

Intriguing findings

Our Sustainability team discussed some of the most commonly used items we find ourselves questioning how to recycle and put them into a waste management chart. Did you know that paper plates go in the compost and plastic cutlery can’t be recycled?!

A progressive step is better than none at all

We recognize that best practice is always to reduce and reuse packaging before resorting to disposal, but if we can all improve how we manage our waste, it is a step in the right direction.

See our waste management chart below and print it out to keep near your recycling and compost bins for the next time you find yourself wishcycling. If you have questions about items that you can’t find on our waste management chart, search “waste wizard [your city]” for more information.

Item	GARBAGE	RECYCLING	COMPOST	DEPOT
Aluminum aerosol containers
Aluminum Foil
Bread Bags
Butter wrapper
Cereal box liner
Chip bags
Plastic Clam Shells (labels off)
Coffee Cup
Coffee Lid
Compost Bag
Compostable Plastic Cup
Dog Waste
Envelope without Window
Foil Lids (on Containers)
Food Soiled Paper or Cardboard
Juice Cartons/Boxes
Milk Carton
Muffin Paper Cups
Paper Towel
Peanut Butter Jar (remove label)
Plastic Cutlery
Plastic Shopping Bags (tie together)
Q-tips
Saran Wrap
Plastic Straws
Styrofoam takeout container
Tea Bag (Paper)
Toothpaste Tube
Wax Paper
Ziploc bags (tie together)