OLDS — For the most part, figures in a Town of Olds budget survey appear to support a suggestion by administrative staff to make several changes to the way solid waste is collected in town to save money.
Administrative staff suggested some of those some ideas a few weeks ago.
They include suspending green bin pickup between Nov. 1 this year and April 30 next year, although the big impact is expected to occur from Jan 1 to April 30 and reducing the number of three-yard compost bins from 100 to 40 and placing them in locations yet to be determined.
During its Oct. 11 meeting town council received a 2022 budget survey that showed strong support from respondents for those moves.
One question asked, “do you want to keep the current three-week rotation for waste pickup, regardless of potential cost increases?
A total of 67.18 respondents said ‘no,’ while 32.82 per cent said ‘yes.’
The survey also asked, "would you be in favour of suspending green bin (compost) pickup in the winter months (November through to April)?
A total of 77.19 per cent answered ‘yes’ to this question while 23.57 per cent said ‘no.’
However, the response to another question which asked, "would you be in favour of removing the blue bin (recycling) and having either a second black bin (garbage) or more frequent black bin collection” was pretty even.
A total of 50.97 per cent respondents said ‘no,’ and 49.42 per cent said ‘yes.’
Two other questions in the survey focused on the three-yard community compost bins.
One asked, “would you be in favour of reducing the number of three-yard community bins in the community?”
A total of 58.02 per cent of respondents answered ‘yes’ to this question and 41.98 per cent replied ‘no.’
Another question asked, “would you be in favour of moving the bins to centralized locations/streets within the community?”
A total of 64.48 per cent of respondents answered ‘yes’ to that question while 35.91 per cent said ‘no.’
Respondents were also asked, “do you make use of either of the recycling facilities?”
A total of 75.84 per cent said ‘yes’ and 24.16 per cent said ‘no.’
A total of 295 responses were received, up from 155 received for the 2021 budget survey.
