Weekly pick-up of green organics carts will resume on Monday, with an extra two weeks added to the season in the event of another late fall.
Since mid-October, the city has only been picking up the green carts every other week, on the same weeks it has picked up the brown garbage carts. But most of residents made regular use of their green carts over the winter, said solid waste program co-ordinator Christian Benson.
“A lot of people were still utilizing them,” said Benson. “We were still seeing 200 metric tonnes a month or 20 per cent of our average summer collection. People were still using it for their kitchen waste.”
Benson declared the first winter of the new garbage pick-up program a success, despite relatively mild conditions. Critics of the program when it began last June had wondered how well the programs would work in the event of heavy snowfall, but Benson said those problems never materialized.
“It was a very mild winter. We had a couple of brief cold spells but given it was a mild winter, there weren’t many problems,” he said.
Already residents have started raking their lawns of leaves and thatch, all of which can be combined with kitchen waste for weekly pick-up. Homeowners who fill their carts can always take any excess to the compost depot on Villeneuve Road for disposal, which Benson said is already being used quite regularly.
“We’ve already shipped out 32 metric tonnes and that’s one week of good weather,” he said.
There will be no leaf collection in the spring. The city has extended weekly pick-up by two weeks – to the end of October – in the event of a late fall and to help with leaf removal. It was revealed late last year that bagged leaves picked up by the city were being sent to the landfill, which raised the ire of some residents. The extra two weeks of weekly service is part of a strategy to prevent that. The city is also exploring other options to ensure bagged leaves can be composted.
Benson will present to city council a report on the first full year of the program late in June, which he said will include some positive statistics.
“We have some nice encouraging numbers,” he said. “We’re one of the highest in the province for diversion rates; we’re double the provincial average.”
Public works will also hold its annual compost giveaway on Saturday, March 12.
