Earth Day

Every year on April 22 we celebrate nature and inspire our residents to include sustainable habits into their daily routines. This year's theme is Protect our Species. And, the City of Fort Saskatchewan is working with the community to protect our honey bee and wild native bee populations.

Why we need to protect the Honey Bee1

  • Bees are indespensible pollinators of ecosystems, plants need bees to pollinate. In fact, 90% of flowering plant species on earth depend on insect pollination. For example: If  a honey bee makes 10 trips in a day, within a colony of 25,000 bees, and  visits between 50-1,000 flowers —That's a total 250 million flowers pollinated a day!
  • Bees are a keystone species, other species depend on them to survive. Many animal species need bees to survive because their food source (nuts, berries, seeds and fruit) relies on insect pollination.
  • As pollinators disappear, so does our food source. We cannot survive without bees. 

How we can protect the Honey Bee

Did you know you can help support our local bees and other pollinator populations by planting pollinator friendly plants? Our Youth Advisory Club (YAC) , with help from the City, planted a pollinator friendly garden bed in the Jubilee Park Community Garden.  Start Your Own Pollinator Garden!

Not much of a green thumb,  become a backyard beekeeper instead. Urban beekeeping is a great way to improve plant pollination in backyards across the community. Learn more about our Fort Honey Bee Program.

Did You Know?

 Fort Sask Transit 
  • On average three gasoline fueled buses produce 155,750 grams of CO2 per day (6,230g x 25 runs) with the addition of our new electric bus, our carbon footprint decreases by 38,938 grams per day — That's a 25% drop! Read the full story.
  • We use solar panels to light the park and ride terminal. For all the cyclists, we installed bicycle parking to assist with the first and last kilometre journeys.
  • Choosing  transit over a car reduces congestion, wear and tear on our roadways and repair costs. Also owning a compact gas-powered car is $3,300 a year according to CAA , but Fort Sask Transit is $612 a year.

Learn more about Fort Sask Transit
Curbside Organics Collection
  • Since starting curbside organics collection, Fort Saskatchewan has diverted over 1700 TONNES of organic material from landfill...Way to Go!
  • Organic material from your green cart goes to a commercial composting facility where it's turned into nutrient-rich compost that's used in local agricultural fields, compost sale fundraisers and home gardens.
  • Reducing the amount of waste you produce is more sustainable than reusing and recycling. Simple steps like: pre-planning meals and choosing products with minimal packaging can reduce your household waste.

Learn more about the Fort Sask Waste Program
Cigarette Butt Recycling 
  • We collect cigarette butts and ship to TerraCycle where they're turned into a variety of industrial products and compost.

Learn more about the Cigarette Waste Recycling Program
 Community Gardens
  • We have two community gardens: Jubilee Park Garden and Clover Park Garden. Community gardens help our residents grow their own food for family and friends. This is less food shipped into our community, because its grown locally.
  • The Boys and Girls Club also teaches our young people about their food at the Clover Park Community Garden through the Grow Your Own program.
  • The Juliee Park Garden is watered with recycled storm water. Water is also captured from the Curling Rink for use in community gardens and city planters.

Learn more about the Community Gardens Program
 Pitch In Week

Pitch in Week is a national event that runs from April 22 to 29. It's a time when community groups, and residents work together to clean-up their communities.

To make it easy, we provide the bags and we'll pick up too! To order your bags, please call: 780-992-6249

Learn more about Pitch In Week

1. What you need to know about bees and how you can help to protect them (Earth Day Network)