A number of recycling and reuse initiatives are already in the works for Edmonton’s sustainable Blatchford community, set to be constructed on the former City Centre Airport site.

“This commitment to reducing Blatchford’s environmental footprint has to start at the very first stage of construction,” said Mark Hall, executive director of the Blatchford redevelopment. “To maintain responsible environmental development over the course of the construction we are essentially finding ways to recycle an airport.”

Here’s how the development team will follow through with that plan:

• Buildings. The former airport hangars are being deconstructed instead of demolished. Through the deconstruction process, a building is slowly dismantled to allow the building materials to be sorted for recycling, reuse or waste management. This differs from standard demolition, where the building is taken down as fast as possible with the materials likely ending up in a landfill. A minimum of 85 per cent of the waste created from buildings in Blatchford will be diverted from the landfill.

• Runways. All runways will be removed and recycled on site. The materials (concrete, asphalt and gravel) will be used to construct the roads in the community. Any excess materials will be sold for reuse elsewhere.

• Stormwater Ponds. Rather than hauling the earth that is dug up to create the stormwater ponds off site, the soil will be used to build a large hill in the community. For the first stormwater pond, this means reducing the environmental impact associated with trucking 250,000-300,000 cubic metres of soil out of the community.

The city continues to explore the feasibility of a district energy system. Such a system would greatly reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the future community of 30,000 residents and provide heating and cooling for all buildings using 100 per cent renewable energy.