Town councillors decided at their July 8 regular meeting to implement a community-wide single-stream recycling program where blue bin pickup will begin at residential properties starting in May 2014.
Larry Wright, the town's director of operations, said the operations department had several questions about the program that it wanted council feedback on before a decision was made and the program implemented. Some of the questions included whether the town consulted with the Mountain View Regional Waste Management Commission (MVRWMC) on potential levels of services offered by the MVRWMC, should the town collect recycling, garbage and compost bins on consecutive weeks and if the town should move toward front-yard pickup.
Olds residents who are participating in the single-stream recycling pilot project in which all recyclables are collected at the curb, diverted 43.9 metric tonnes of material from the landfill in the first quarter of 2013. There are 800 homes participating in the pilot.
Despite that amount being recycled at the curbside, Coun. Mary Jane Harper, who also chairs the MVRWMC, said those residents not participating in the pilot project are still dropping off large volumes of recyclable materials at the town's two recycling centres, meaning everyone in Olds has caught on to the value of recycling.
Coun. Harvey Walsh said he liked the curbside program and would support its expansion.
“I found that my black (garbage) bin isn't used as much. I would support a package that says we move away from black bins,” he said.
“I really like (curbside recycling),” added Coun. Arvin Bull.
Coun. Murray Ball said he has received good feedback about single-stream recycling from many in the community.
“This program has been very well received,“ he said. “My neighbours are very happy with it. I think we're really on the right course with this.”
Harper said she thought the decision was great for Olds and the commission.
“No. 1, the community gets to have single-source recycling at their household, and the second part is by diverting more waste away from our landfill, it's going to be extending (the life of) our landfill,” she said.
Harper also said with the recent decision by councils in Didsbury and Carstairs to close their recycling centres, Olds may see an increase in recycling at its centres from people in those communities.
Wright said administrators continue to get great feedback from both the people in the pilot project and those who want the program expanded. He said the challenge now is determining how to expand the program in the most cost-effective manner. He told council that to purchase blue bins for every household would cost the town between $168,000 and $192,000.
In an interview, Wright said administrators also want to know if council wants to proceed with having the commission collect all three bins for recycling, compost and garbage or whether there should be some kind of combination of service providers, and what the costs on those options would be. Council will be getting an update on costs prior to budget deliberations near the end of the year.
It would be much more cost effective to do as much front-yard pickup as possible, Wright added, the mess in back lanes would be minimized and the town wouldn't have to devote as many resources to keeping back lanes clear in the winter.
On the other hand, there are some areas in town, particularly residences adjacent to Highway 27, in which front-yard pickup is not possible.
Wright said administrators are also investigating how the town can expand the kind of plastics that can be recycled, although it has not been decided whether those materials would be dropped off at the recycling centres, the depot operated by Accredited Supports to the Community or have them included in the single-stream option.
