This article is part of a series calledSix sustainability ideas that have gone mainstream in Canada.Each article explores an innovative sustainability idea that may have seemed radical a decade ago but is now considered a best practice. The series features inspiring ideas and projects being implemented in Canadian cities and towns of all sizes, plus resources to help you implement these solutions in your community.
Rancher with spray irrigation equipment in Cranbrook, BC.
A sewage challenge: When a legal ruling mandated an upgrade of its wastewater treatment system, the City of Cranbrook, BC, set an ambitious goal: develop a world-class, sustainable facility that would meet the city's needs for the next 50-plus years while using every drop of effluent to create value.
Sustainable solution: The city's solution was an award-winning reclaimed water facility that treats effluent using aerated ponds and UV disinfection and then uses it to irrigate forage land and a waterfowl nesting wetland. The irrigated land provides forage for about 1,200 cow-calf pairs and produces approximately 3,600 tonnes of hay, for a combined value of more than $1.2 million a year.
Green benefits: The project has produced social, economic and environmental benefits. Before the upgrades, the irrigation site was considered an unsanitary eyesore; now it's a popular area for tours, bird watching and recreation. It's also efficient to operate and a revenue generator, with local ranchers and the municipality sharing in the crop sales.
Success secrets: The city credits the success to its long-term, collaborative visioning process, extensive consultation and practical approach to innovation. Rather than looking for leading-edge technologies, the city focused on using proven, off-the-shelf products in innovative ways. Its advice for other communities is to think long term and think differently from the accepted and conventional.
Ready to wring value out of every drop of your wastewater?
Learn more about the City of Cranbrook's project with these resources:
This series was inspired by "From Crazy to Common Sense: 'Radical' Ideas Whose Time Have Come," a workshop that was held at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities' 2016 Sustainable Communities Conference.
Want to explore all GMF-funded projects? Check out the Projects Database for a complete overview of funded projects and get inspired by municipalities of all sizes, across Canada.
FCM's Green Municipal Fund has developed this roadmap to provide a detailed overview of the process for bringing contaminated or abandoned sites back into productive use in your province.
Use this roadmap to:
Know the steps involved in a brownfield redevelopment project so you can be better prepared to avoid potential delays or cost overruns
Learn where to look for funding, including grants and incentive programs
Structure your discussions and consultations with project stakeholders
Improve your understanding of the brownfields regulatory framework in Alberta
This roadmap is designed as an easy-to-follow path to help municipalities and their partners navigate the processes, regulations and funding for brownfield redevelopment projects in Alberta.
Note: The information presented in the roadmaps is current to the publication date and may not capture all relevant programs. Please contact the responsible organizations to verify up-to-date information.
Each roadmap summarizes current provincial or territorial legislation and must not be regarded as a formal legal interpretation. Please refer to the identified legislation for complete details on requirements and seek legal advice if necessary.
FCM's Green Municipal Fund has developed this roadmap to provide a detailed overview of the process for bringing contaminated or abandoned sites back into productive use in your province.
Use this roadmap to:
Know the steps involved in a brownfield redevelopment project so you can be better prepared to avoid potential delays or cost overruns
Learn where to look for funding, including grants and incentive programs
Structure your discussions and consultations with project stakeholders
Improve your understanding of the brownfields regulatory framework in British Columbia
This roadmap is designed as an easy-to-follow path to help municipalities and their partners navigate the processes, regulations and funding for brownfield redevelopment projects in British Columbia.
Note: The information presented in the roadmaps is current to the publication date and may not capture all relevant programs. Please contact the responsible organizations to verify up-to-date information.
Each roadmap summarizes current provincial or territorial legislation and must not be regarded as a formal legal interpretation. Please refer to the identified legislation for complete details on requirements and seek legal advice if necessary.
FCM's Green Municipal Fund has developed this roadmap to provide a detailed overview of the process for bringing contaminated or abandoned sites back into productive use in your province.
Use this roadmap to:
Know the steps involved in a brownfield redevelopment project so you can be better prepared to avoid potential delays or cost overruns
Learn where to look for funding, including grants and incentive programs
Structure your discussions and consultations with project stakeholders
Improve your understanding of the brownfields regulatory framework in Newfoundland and Labrador
This roadmap is designed as an easy-to-follow path to help municipalities and their partners navigate the processes, regulations and funding for brownfield redevelopment projects in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Note: The information presented in the roadmaps is current to the publication date and may not capture all relevant programs. Please contact the responsible organizations to verify up-to-date information.
Each roadmap summarizes current provincial or territorial legislation and must not be regarded as a formal legal interpretation. Please refer to the identified legislation for complete details on requirements and seek legal advice if necessary.
FCM's Green Municipal Fund has developed this roadmap to provide a detailed overview of the process for bringing contaminated or abandoned sites back into productive use in your province.
Use this roadmap to:
Know the steps involved in a brownfield redevelopment project so you can be better prepared to avoid potential delays or cost overruns
Learn where to look for funding, including grants and incentive programs
Structure your discussions and consultations with project stakeholders
Improve your understanding of the brownfields regulatory framework in Nova Scotia
This roadmap is designed as an easy-to-follow path to help municipalities and their partners navigate the processes, regulations and funding for brownfield redevelopment projects in Nova Scotia.
Note: The information presented in the roadmaps is current to the publication date and may not capture all relevant programs. Please contact the responsible organizations to verify up-to-date information.
Each roadmap summarizes current provincial or territorial legislation and must not be regarded as a formal legal interpretation. Please refer to the identified legislation for complete details on requirements and seek legal advice if necessary.
FCM's Green Municipal Fund has developed this roadmap to provide a detailed overview of the process for bringing contaminated or abandoned sites back into productive use in your territory.
Use this roadmap to:
Know the steps involved in a brownfield redevelopment project so you can be better prepared to avoid potential delays or cost overruns
Learn where to look for funding, including grants and incentive programs
Structure your discussions and consultations with project stakeholders
Improve your understanding of the brownfields regulatory framework in Nunavut
This roadmap is designed as an easy-to-follow path to help municipalities and their partners navigate the processes, regulations and funding for brownfield redevelopment projects in Nunavut.
Note: The information presented in the roadmaps is current to the publication date and may not capture all relevant programs. Please contact the responsible organizations to verify up-to-date information.
Each roadmap summarizes current provincial or territorial legislation and must not be regarded as a formal legal interpretation. Please refer to the identified legislation for complete details on requirements and seek legal advice if necessary.
FCM's Green Municipal Fund has developed this roadmap to provide a detailed overview of the process for bringing contaminated or abandoned sites back into productive use in your province.
Use this roadmap to:
Know the steps involved in a brownfield redevelopment project so you can be better prepared to avoid potential delays or cost overruns
Learn where to look for funding, including grants and incentive programs
Structure your discussions and consultations with project stakeholders
Improve your understanding of the brownfields regulatory framework in Prince Edward Island
This roadmap is designed as an easy-to-follow path to help municipalities and their partners navigate the processes, regulations and funding for brownfield redevelopment projects in Prince Edward Island.
Note: The information presented in the roadmaps is current to the publication date and may not capture all relevant programs. Please contact the responsible organizations to verify up-to-date information.
Each roadmap summarizes current provincial or territorial legislation and must not be regarded as a formal legal interpretation. Please refer to the identified legislation for complete details on requirements and seek legal advice if necessary.
Case study: Ways Ottawa increases cycling with green transit options
Just one initiative has quadrupled bike use and saved road maintenance costs
This article is part of a series calledSix sustainability ideas that have gone mainstream in Canada.Each article explores an innovative sustainability idea that may have seemed radical a decade ago but is now considered a best practice. The series features inspiring ideas and projects being implemented in Canadian cities and towns of all sizes, plus resources to help you implement these solutions in your community.
A chilly challenge: The City of Ottawa, ON, was faced with the challenge of reducing automobile dependency in a winter city with far-flung suburban areas. Their response was to launch an ambitious transportation plan that combines high-quality transit with safe and accessible year-round cycling infrastructure, aiming for 66 per cent of all trips to the city core to be made via public transit or bike.
Sustainable solution: Ottawa's innovative approach combines city-wide land-use planning that supports transit and cycling with integrated cycling-transit services such as bike racks for buses and a Bike and Ride program. The city has also developed dedicated cycling infrastructure, such as segregated bike lanes, "Complete Streets" and a winter cycling network.
Green benefits: Integrating cycling with transit is effective because it provides options for cyclists during bad weather and increases the accessibility and reach of public transit by encouraging trips that combine both modes. And it's having a big impact: just one initiative — the award-winning Laurier Avenue Segregated Bike Lane Project — succeeded in quadrupling cycling trips on that road, reducing roadway operation and maintenance expenses and almost doubling the cycle mode share in the downtown core.
Success secrets: Some of the reasons for Ottawa's success include promoting integrated options for biking and walking, focusing on key route connectivity and quality rather than total kilometres, and using electronic monitoring data to track and report on success.
Looking for ways to increase cycling levels in your community?
Learn more about the City of Ottawa's projects with these resources:
This series was inspired by "From Crazy to Common Sense: 'Radical' Ideas Whose Time Have Come," a workshop that was held at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities' 2016 Sustainable Communities Conference.
Move ideas to reality: Get funding and free resources from FCM's Green Municipal Fund
Subscribe to email updates and get the resources, training, networking opportunities and funding you need from FCM's Green Municipal Fund to implement these sustainability ideas in your community.
Want to explore all GMF-funded projects? Check out the Projects Database for a complete overview of funded projects and get inspired by municipalities of all sizes, across Canada.
This article is part of a series calledSix sustainability ideas that have gone mainstream in Canada.Each article explores an innovative sustainability idea that may have seemed radical a decade ago but is now considered a best practice. The series features inspiring ideas and projects being implemented in Canadian cities and towns of all sizes, plus resources to help you implement these solutions in your community.
City of Saint Hyacinthe vehicles that are fuelled by natural gas.
A wasteful challenge: Like many progressive communities, Saint-Hyacinthe, QC, faced a significant challenge: how to deal with the region's organic waste and sewage sludge in an economically and environmentally responsible manner. Saint-Hyacinthe's solution, however, was far from commonplace: they decided to turn their waste into biogas.
Sustainable solution: The municipality's solution uses anaerobic digestion to convert waste into a high-quality biosolid and a pipeline-quality biogas that is then used to run municipal vehicles and to heat and cool their buildings. Excess biogas is sold to the regional utility, Gaz Métro. This biomethanation project is a first in Quebec and the winner of the 2016 FCM Sustainable Communities Award for Waste.
Green benefits: The environmental benefits of the project are compelling. It diverts waste from the landfill and significantly reduces both odours and greenhouse gas emissions. But what's grabbing the attention of municipal decision-makers is its financial model: the project is projected to pay for itself by generating millions of dollars in annual savings and revenue.
Success secrets: The keys to Saint-Hyacinthe's successweregetting the provincial government onside and developing the knowledge and skills of their own municipal staff to do the work in-house. Municipal staff conducted in-depth research in Europe and worked with the province to develop standards that will pave the way for future projects.
Interested in turning your organic waste into a biogas resource?
Learn more about the City of Saint-Hyacinthe's project with these resources:
This series was inspired by "From Crazy to Common Sense: 'Radical' Ideas Whose Time Have Come," a workshop that was held at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities' 2016 Sustainable Communities Conference.
Want to explore all GMF-funded projects? Check out the Projects Database for a complete overview of funded projects and get inspired by municipalities of all sizes, across Canada.
This article is part of a series calledSix sustainability ideas that have gone mainstream in Canada.Each article explores an innovative sustainability idea that may have seemed radical a decade ago but is now considered a best practice. The series features inspiring ideas and projects being implemented in Canadian cities and towns of all sizes, plus resources to help you implement these solutions in your community.
A Green Home Makeover demonstration showcases eco-friendly home improvements, and educates homeowners and the building industry about installation and maintenance.
An age-related challenge: Like many 1980s-era suburbs, the County Court neighbourhood in the City of Brampton, ON, is filled with single-family homes, cul-de-sacs and large parks. It also has aging infrastructure, such as its stormwater systems, in need of an upgrade to deal with the realities of climate change.
Sustainable solution: Instead of taking a piecemeal approach, the city partnered with the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) in the Sustainable Neighbourhood Retrofit Action (SNAP) program to explore integrated solutions for addressing local water, energy and ecological retrofit needs. The SNAP program brings regional governments, local authorities, businesses and residents together to work on building resilient and efficient local communities.
Green benefits: For the County Court neighbourhood, partnering with the SNAP program has resulted in a series of innovative projects that meet multiple needs at once, such as a Green Home Makeover, bio-filter swale and stormwater irrigation facility. The impact of these initiatives is monitored and reported on through the TRCA's Sustainable Technologies Evaluation Program.
Success secrets: Several key features contribute to the success of this approach:
a focus on collaboration
coordination of public- and private-sector actions
development of integrated solutions
use of existing regional and municipal plans and budgets at the local level
Is your neighbourhood in need of a retrofit?
Learn more about sustainable neighbourhood development with these resources:
This series was inspired by "From Crazy to Common Sense: 'Radical' Ideas Whose Time Have Come," a workshop that was held at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities' 2016 Sustainable Communities Conference.
Move ideas to reality: Get funding and free resources from FCM's Green Municipal Fund
Subscribe to email updates and get the resources, training, networking opportunities and funding you need from FCM's Green Municipal Fund to implement these sustainability ideas in your community.
Want to explore all GMF-funded projects? Check out the Projects Database for a complete overview of funded projects and get inspired by municipalities of all sizes, across Canada.
