(file photo/battlefordsNOW staff)

By Angela Brown

Garbage pickup schedule

Town talks trash at council meeting

Feb 23, 2022 | 3:17 PM

Garbage was on the table for discussion at this week’s Battleford town council meeting.

Administration proposed changing the pick up schedule to biweekly year round. Currently the town collection schedule is biweekly for the winter months, and weekly from May 1 to Oct. 31.

CAO Ash Alam said the province has a Solid Waste Management Strategy for Saskatchewan to reduce waste generated per person by 30 per cent by 2030 and 50 per cent by 2040. If the town adopted a year round biweekly pick up it would encourage more people to recycle, to reduce the amount of waste going to the area landfill.

Town Public Works Manager Eric Bilanski stated in his submitted report the town has “quite an increase in [refuse] weights, during the months of May to October, most of which can be contributed to organics still [being] put into our refuse pick-up stream.”

A biweekly pickup would also reduce costs and tipping fees, while free up crews to work on other tasks such as asphalt patching.

New cabinet

Cockrill and Harrison take on new responsibilities as Premier appoints cabinet

3h ago

Warm weather continues

Warmer-than-normal weather continues through the weekend

4h ago

Battlefords AAA Sharks

Dureau commits to Merrimack College in NCAA DI

22h ago

Alam doesn’t anticipate much of an impact on the town to make the change.

He noted some weeks collectors say residents don’t put out much trash for pick up.

There would be no change to weekly compost and biweekly recyclable pick up. Christmas pickups would be done as needed, as usual.

Coun. David George was worried residents would be upset about having to park their trash for another week if it went biweekly year round. He proposed at least switching back to a weekly pickup during the warm months when the odour from standing waste would be offensive, particularly if there are used diapers in the contents.

“I’m not opposed to trying it, but there are some situations we should be looking at, and talking with those people just to make sure they are good with it,” he said.

Coun. Doug Laing also anticipated some challenges but supported the idea. He said he is glad taxpayers will be able to get a second bin as an option.

But the councillor said he wanted to make sure the town is willing to help people who do have issues, and “if possible revisit it if there are enough concerns.”

Coun. Kevin Russell was opposed to the proposal, saying that’s the reason the town still has weekly trash pick up in the summer. He added the idea of having another bin “would just be twice the smell.”

Coun. Judy Pruden, chairing the meeting in Mayor Ames Leslie’s absence, was in favour of the concept. She encouraged more families to use a compost bin to reduce the amount of food products going into their trash, as an environmentally-friendly option.

In the vote the majority of council was opposed to a year-round biweekly garbage pick up schedule.

Coun. George requested changing the proposed resolution so the current schedule would be weekly from May to August only. So there would be two more months for a biweekly collection, in September and October, as a compromise.

The CAO will bring an amended resolution back to council for consideration.

Councillors Shelley Boutin-Gervais and Alexis Christensen were absent from the meeting.

—

Angela.Brown@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @battlefordsnow