Vancouver ranked #1 greenest city in the world

The city was described as "Canada’s shining jewel when it comes to recycling."

vancouver-greenest-city-world-september-2021

Vancouver has been ranked the greenest city in the world for its recycling rate that increased from 40 per cent to over 60 per cent in just over a decade. Photo via Aolin Chen / Getty Images

Vancouver has been ranked the greenest city in the world due to its recycling protocol.

BusinessWaste.co.uk, a waste management company in the United Kingdom, ranked the world's greenest cities according to their recycling habits. Cities with the best protocol made the top 15 list, while those who don’t make the grade were ranked in the bottom five.

Report authors note that most people are "aware of what can and cannot be given a new lease of life through the recycling process" but that some cities have created innovative ways to reduce waste.

"Countries the world over are tackling waste in innovative and interesting ways, but many lag behind," said Mark Hall, founder of BusinessWaste.co.uk.

“The challenge over the next decade will be bringing all cities to a standard where waste reduction is made part of policy, not merely a target to let slide by – and in the meantime technology and science continue to innovate to make our collective impact on the planet less harmful."

Vancouver was awarded the top honour of the "greenest city" in the world. The city was described as "Canada’s shining jewel when it comes to recycling" and praised for increasing its recycling rate from 40 per cent to over 60 per cent in just over a decade.

Singapore City followed Vancouver in second, with report authors noting that the South Asian metropolis generates "an impressively small amount of landfill waste per person each year."

Copenhagen came third and was lauded for its impressive 70 per cent recycling rate and accessible "door-to-door collections."

On the other end of the spectrum, Mexico City was ranked the world's worst city for recycling. Report authors write: "The city closed its largest landfill site, where over 70 million tonnes of waste are already buried and causing environmental problems, almost a decade ago, leading to illegal dumping grounds forming and streets piled high with waste."