Neighbours see red over 'gaudy' blue carts

Some Calgary residents are complaining that while they are all for recycling, the city's new blue carts are trashing the look of their neighbourhoods.

The city is still rolling out its blue cart recycling program and more than 200,000 carts have been delivered to homes, a move many say is long overdue. 

Homeowners are supposed to put their carts out with their garbage on pickup day, whether that is behind their homes in the alley or in front of their homes.

Alex Bakker, who lives in the neighbourhood of New Brighton, puts his cart in his garage between pickup days. But he said too many people leave their bins in front of their homes all the time, leaving an unsightly collection of them.

"It sort of brings down the overall look of the community. It would be nice if people did put them in the garage," he said.

Carts too big, too blue 

Rob Mudd, a landscape designer who beautifies Calgary yards, agrees.

"We are all for recycling, but they are just so gaudy," he said. "If you were to drive by my house, you'd see the bin. You wouldn't see my yard. You'd see the bin. Your eye just goes right to it. That is the problem."

The city has received complaints about the size and colour of the bins – they are too big and too blue.

"This is the way of the future. And it is the safe way, the convenient way and it really is a very clean way to manage both recyclables and the waste stream," said Dave Griffiths, a spokesman for waste and recycling services. 

Griffiths said thousands of tonnes of recyclables have already been kept out of the landfill.

Landfills uglier than blue carts

That trumps any concern about the "look" of the bins for Natalie Odd, a spokeswoman for the Clean Calgary Association, an environmental group.

"Our landfills are enormous piles of garbage are growing [and] are infinitely more unsightly than a blue cart," she said.

The city technically owns the bins and Griffiths told CBC News they cannot be painted over. However, Bev Jaremko called CBC Radio's The Homestretch on Thursday afternoon to say she spray-painted her cart with the city's blessing.

She said she called the City of Calgary and asked them if she could personalize her blue bin.

"They sad yes you are allowed to paint it. You cannot paint the lid ... and of course you can't paint over the address, so I have actually spray painted all four sides of my blue box," Jaremko said.

The city doesn't plan to fine Calgarians who leave them out all week long — which Bakker believes could hurt property values.

"There's a certain pride in a community and when you see things, anything from weeds on neighbours' lawns to blue bins being left out, it can give the impression that a community isn't cared for as much as it should be," he said.

Bakker may be seeing more bins in his neighbourhood soon.

Under a pilot program, six Calgary communities now have two bins per house – a grey one for garbage and a blue one for recycling – and that program could be expanded citywide, doubling the number of carts to nearly 600,000.

Recycling has already started in south Calgary, and will begin on June 9 in the northwest and June 30 in the northeast.