The City of Salmon Arm is launching a new green bin program on July 1st this year, with residents being given three new bins to help make the switch.
Residents will get a small beige kitchen bin for compost and a larger green bin to dump the compostable items into and then wheel it to the curb. They’ll also be given a blue recycling bin that will eliminate the need to put recyclables in clear or blue plastic bags.
Mayor Alan Harrison says recyclables and garbage will now be collected at the curb every second week, while organic waste will be collected weekly.
“Organic waste will end up going to Spa Hills which is a local composter,” he said. “About 30 per cent of our landfill is organics and so we want to move that into reusable materials and by collecting at curbside it gives everybody that opportunity to do so.”
Harrison says the city wants to encourage people to also reduce the amount of garbage and recyclables.
“That’s going to be a challenge but it can be done and we’ve done quite a bit education program here to try and help people understand how best to do it,” Harrison said.
“Some are worried that they are going to have more than one bag of garbage, so we do have an alternative where you can buy a second sticker for $3 to have a second bag of garbage, but we want to try and move everyone to less garbage.”
There will be exceptions made for people with special waste needs like pet waste, diapers or medical waste, but Harrison believes for the most part, residents are on board with the new program.
“We’ve also held an open house here at city hall, and we had lots of people come in and talk to our staff about how it was all going to work,” he said. “There’s been quite an education program, so we are really doing our best to try to keep everybody informed, because come July 1st, the change for curbside is going to take place.”
Harrison notes that if residents need extra recycling bins, they can make their own, but it has to be labelled for recycling. If you need an extra green bin for food waste, there is a $25 cost and a yearly fee of $60.
