Our Future Without Waste

Established nearly three decades ago, Alberta’s Recycling Management Authority (ARMA) has demonstrated a knack for finding value in unexpected places. Be it tires, paint, used oil or end-of-life electronics, we’re committed to transforming the notoriously difficult and to building a more sustainable world.

ARMA has always been inspired by recycling challenges and now we’ve set ourselves another bold target – we are zeroing in on a future without waste. While there’s no denying that our refreshed vision and mandate is ambitious, we feel that it’s exactly what is needed to foster creativity, leadership and enhanced performance.

Since our inception in 1992, we have been steadily chipping away at traditional consumption patterns. ARMA has challenged communities to take greater responsibility for hazardous materials and in doing so, we’ve collectively reduced our environmental impact.

We are immensely proud to see more and more Albertans shifting their mindset about waste. Instead of thinking in a straight line from the cash register to the landfill, people are rounding the corner on a circular economy. Potential is being identified in unlikely places and innovative solutions are breathing new life into old products.

Together, we are making advances in reusing and dematerializing. Take a scrap tire for instance. Once something that would have once come to a screeching halt after being discarded it is now the feedstock for playground surfaces, landscape products, park benches, running tracks and synthetic turf. We are getting good, functional products from items that would have otherwise been piling up and creating problems for future generations.

With the help of bright minds and forward-thinking companies, ARMA is getting more traction in the recycling space and gathering speed. Over the last thirty years, our province has repurposed over 131 million tires. The rubber, which would have circled our equator more than two times around, is now having a positive economic and environmental impact. And that’s only one part of ARMA’s focus which also includes other hard to dispose of products.

As we eliminate waste, we reveal opportunity. In fact, the phrase ‘resources at our disposal’ has never been more true, and with a growing population and diminishing natural resources, it’s a concept that’s never been more important.

At ARMA we are striving to extend the longevity of materials and to achieve more with less by living the 5Rs – refuse, reduce, reuse, repurpose, and recycle. Not only are we fortunate to have more than 425 registered recycling depots across the province, every day we get to work with great people and communities to advance Alberta. It’s exciting to be a part of this innovative space and reaffirms that our vision of a future without waste is well within reach.