The Stampede’s sustainability efforts are focusing on six priority areas this year, including energy use, waste, water conservation, food, community and biodiversity
With more than a million visitors expected to pass through the Calgary Stampede gates this year, the 10-day festival will produce a staggering amount of waste.
But a variety of sustainability initiatives and partnerships aim to make this year’s Stampede one of the greenest, most eco-friendly iterations yet.
Kori Stosky is the Stampede’s sustainability specialist, hired to help reduce the festival’s environmental footprint.
She said some new additions this year will help increase the Stampede’s diversion rate, which refers to how much trash is kept out of Calgary’s landfills. Year-round, she said the Stampede diverts 85 per cent of its waste, and is aiming to achieve a similar metric during the 10-day festival.
To help reach that target, the Stampede’s sustainability efforts are focusing on six priority areas this year, according to Stosky, including energy use, waste, water conservation, food, community and biodiversity.
The Stampede has partnerships with various organizations to recycle and reuse 14 different material streams, including wood, metal, organics and textiles. Efforts range from upcycling the grease produced by vendors into soaps and other materials, to donating bedding waste from the Stampede Park’s barns to local farms to be converted into fertilizer.
The Stampede also partners with the Advanced Beverage Container Recycling Corp. as a sustainability partner, to increase beverage container recycling rates.
While there are “hundreds” of three-tiered waste-sorting bins scattered throughout the park, Stosky said the Stampede’s waste-management approach goes well beyond providing visitors ample opportunity to discard their trash.
“I feel when it comes to waste, the Stampede has taken a very proactive approach to a lot of waste management efforts across the park,” she said.
New initiatives this year include a five-page sustainability guide being promoted to visitors, and a dedicated waste-sorting station pilot project in Weadickville. Workers from the Centre for Newcomers are operating that station to ensure all waste is properly collected and sorted.
Working in tandem with the Centre for Newcomers to pick up trash from the grounds are nearly 300 teenage workers hired by the Trellis Society, which manages the Stampede’s litter patrol program.
At the on-grounds pancake breakfasts, Stosky said Girl Guides are collecting bottles and juice boxes, while other workers are informing Stampede-goers of which bin to properly discard their plates and utensils.
“Of the thousands and thousands of people we gave pancakes to, we walked away with a single bag of waste because there was a lot of effort to make sure everything was compostable, the juice boxes were taken away and no trace was left behind,” she said.
Vendors embracing sustainability
Around the midway, many of the Stampede’s vendors are also showing their environmental stewardship this year.
Katherine Vallejos, the owner of Empanada Queen, said all of her takeaway containers and straws are compostable, and her food truck produces less than one full garbage bag per day.
“We try to, in general, keep our waste as low as possible,” she said.
“I do a lot of events and I just see the garbage cans. It’s just a lot, sometimes, the amount of garbage.”
Vallejos added Empanada Queen, which also operates a retail and catering business in southeast Calgary, sources its ingredients locally to further reduce its eco footprint.
Similarly, Maureen Malong, an employee with Stampede midway mainstay The Chicken Coop, said her company has embraced sustainability efforts by offering biodegradable or recyclable takeaway materials.
Regarding these types of actions, Stosky said sustainability is a combined effort, noting that it takes buy-in from staff, visitors and vendors. She highlighted that a recent survey of midway vendors revealed nearly half are providing compostable or fully recyclable takeaway items or have a zero-waste setup.
“Sustainability isn’t just waste and food,” she said. “There’s a more holistic piece, and giving back to the community as well.”