The City of Lethbridge will host an information on the Mandatory Recycling & Organics collection program for businesses on January 31, 2023. (Photo: Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

City of Lethbridge hosting information session on organics collection for businesses

Jan 27, 2023 | 1:12 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – As several business owners across Lethbridge have voiced confusion and frustration with the city’s new Mandatory Recycling and Organics collection program, the City of Lethbridge hopes to clear up any lingering questions.

Waste Diversion Engineer Felipe Albuquerque says they are hosting an open house at Lethbridge City Hall from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, January 31, 2023.

The collection program started earlier this week for commercial and industrial users, but Albuquerque says they will not start issuing surcharges at the landfill and land fees until September 5, 2023.

The open house was announced as the Lethbridge Chamber of Commerce issued a letter to the city this week, calling on it to postpone the implementation of the program for businesses until people can get the clarifications they need.

Chamber CEO Cyndi Bester says the business community was not adequately consulted on the program.

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“We understand and we support recycling and organics, but the ‘mandatory’ button is a little bit harsh without really going and connecting with the business community beforehand,” says Bester.

The Chamber and City of Lethbridge hosted a town hall meeting on January 16, 2023. Bester says, “from that town hall came a lot of confusion and a lot of misunderstanding of the program, when [people were] consulted, and how to put it into place.”

Some of the items that people were unsure about included whether or not some businesses would be exempt from the program, the classifications of different types of businesses, and differences in the expectations of staff and customers when it comes to waste disposal

Bester says many in the business community that she has spoken to were also concerned about having to track employee training for recycling and organics collection, and because businesses will have to hire companies to collect waste for them, how much contract information they will need to share with the city.

She adds that the last time that there was an opportunity for entrepreneurs to voice their opinions prior the program being finalized was in early March 2020, a time when she says people were more concerned about COVID-19 and uncertainty about looming public health restrictions.

Albuquerque, however, says the City of Lethbridge has been regularly speaking with the business community about recycling and organics collection since 2015.

The organics collection program for businesses is separate from the residential one, which is scheduled to start in spring 2023.

The city says a pilot project into the residential program was a success with almost 80 per cent of participants indicating that they were happy with it.

READ MORE: Most residents in Lethbridge’s “green bin” pilot happy: survey