By Lara Fominoff @LaraFominoff on Twitter

Lethbridge blue bin cart delivery begins Tuesday

Apr 9, 2018 | 1:37 PM

LETHBRIDGE – The first phase of the city’s new curbside recycling program will begin this week, with 900 blue bins to be delivered to test homes starting Tuesday, April 10 and running until Friday, April 13.

Homes in Country Meadows, Garry Station, Fairmont, Stafford Manor and Victoria Park/Upper Eastside neighborhoods will be receiving the containers.

General Manager of Waste and Recycling Services, Joel Sanchez, says those chosen to take part in the initial roll-out will also be getting information packages.

“We are including some material that is going to be attached to each cart, and that material is going to have all the education and outreach information for residents for phase 1.”

That will include information on what materials can and can not be put into the bins.

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Examples of what can be put into the bins include hard plastic with the numbers 1-7 on them, cardboard, tin cans and paper.

Not permitted in the blue bins at this time are plastic bags, glass and Styrofoam.

“We also want to stress the quality and the education of the residents in phase 1, because we know we need to have quality marketable materials in order to move that material to the markets, explains Sanchez. “And that’s probably the part that we want to stress to the residents to make sure that they understand what is in, what is out. And if there’s any question, we have a staff that will be able to answer any inquiries or questions they have.”

City staff will also be deployed to work with residents.

Mayor Chris Spearman understands that many in the community have been waiting a long time for this program to begin rolling out.

“We’re going to learn from this experience,” he said. “How easy is it? How can we communicate to residents as to what should be diverted? And what we want to do as a community is to improve waste diversion from the landfill. We have a comprehensive waste diversion strategy and the residential blue bin is just one component of that…overall strategy.”

The goal is to divert about 30 per cent of the material people throw out, away from the landfill when the entire program is underway. Right now, the rate is about 20 per cent, according to Spearman.

Residents selected for phase 1 will not have to pay the $7 per month fee, until the entire program is underway next year.

If carts are lost or damaged, Sanchez says residents can contact the City’s Public Operations Department at 403-320-3850 for help. Like garbage cans, the city will try to fix the blue bin if possible. If it’s not possible, a new one will be issued at no charge.

Each bin also has a code and serial number on it, so it can be tracked down if lost. There may be a fee to recover the lost cart.

First blue bin pickup takes place Friday, April 20. 

The sorting and shipping of recyclables from phase 1 has been contracted out during construction of a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF), to be located at the Waste and Recycling Centre (landfill). It is expected to be operational in the spring of 2019, when blue bins will be rolled out to the entire city.