Celebrate Earth Day

Earth Day has been celebrated on April 22 since 1970.

The City of St. John's has implemented numerous services and programs to protect our natural environment and to ensure wise use of resources. To recognize Earth Day this year, we are highlighting some of these initiatives.

Earth Day Market

Visit the Earth Day Market to check out local and sustainable products, hosted by the St. John’s Farmers’ Market at 245 Freshwater Road, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, April 24.

The City’s Waste Diversion team will be there to answer recycling and backyard composting questions. Blue bags for recycling and clear bags for garbage will be available to pick up for free.

At 11 a.m. in the Market Community Room, composting experts from MUN Botanical Garden are offering a free backyard compost information session. Space is limited and is available on a ‘first come, first seated’ basis.

Completing the Garden’s backyard compost course online or attending an in-person session gives St. John’s residents an opportunity to purchase a low cost MMSB backyard compost bin from the City.

Strategic Plan includes Community & Corporate Climate Plans

The City of St. John’s strives to be sustainable today and for the future; economically, environmentally and financially.

Recently City Council has approved climate change plans for both the Community and City Corporate operations, setting greenhouse gas emission reduction towards NetZero by 2050 at the latest, and updated its Strategic Plan Our City, Our Future to reflect needed changes, including two new goals:

• to work collaboratively to create a climate-adapted and low-carbon City.
• to create a sustainable and accessible, low-carbon public transportation system. 

Electric Vehicle Charging Stations

Council unanimously approved the installation of 16 Level 2 Electric Vehicle (EV) charging stations which will be available for the public this year, in addition to chargers for preparing the City's corporate’s fleet transition.

EV and Plug-In Hybrid Vehicles are becoming increasingly popular with more models on the market, better battery range and drivers switching from gas to electric. EVs present an opportunity to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and noise, while providing savings over a vehicle’s lifetime.

Discussing Residential Energy Efficiency and Costs

The City of St. John’s and Econext have joined forces to bring other municipal and non-municipal partners together exploring the potential for new programming to help homeowners finance energy efficiency retrofits. The goal of this partnership is to address gaps in programming and reduce long-term household energy poverty by utilizing funds from other levels of government and matching those funds directly with homeowners who need it.

Clear Bags for Garbage Increased Curbside Recycling

Since clear bags for garbage became mandatory in January 2022, the amount of recycling the Curbit trucks are collecting at the curb has increased by 30 to 40%.

A priority is to keep recyclable materials out of the landfill; seeing more recyclables going in blue bags instead of clear garbage bags shows the regulation is working towards St. John’s being a sustainable city.

Thank you to all residents who are curbside recycling. Keep useable items out of the landfill and recycle all that you can. To learn more about recycling practices you can visit CurbItStJohns.ca.