The Regional District of Nanaimo faces further delays in meeting the demands of homeowners who want their new 100-litre default garbage bins replaced with bigger ones.
Manager of solid waste services, Larry Gardner, said somewhere between 1,000 and 1,500 exchanges from 100L to 240L bins were already made but he expects the number to increase to 2,000 during the next few months.
Gardner informed the solid waste management select committee on March 2 there are challenges meeting the requests for bigger carts. He said they are concerned one of the manufacturers has informed clients of a shortage of raw materials used to make the carts.
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“That’s part of what we’re seeing,” said Gardner. “I don’t know the answer to that point but I know we are facing delays. I don’t know to what extent that will remain.”
Gardner also pointed out the exchanges will leave the regional district with a surplus of garbage bins. He explained that prior to switching to an automated garbage collection service last October, the RDN made the effort to get residents to select the appropriate size garbage bins they would require.
“Since then we’ve had a number of people that have chosen to upsize which is fine,” said Gardner. “Originally, we had anticipated the adjustment carts with people upsized and downsized would balanced out over time. It’s looking now we’re gonna have a surplus of 2,000 100L carts.”
Gardner anticipated in time a thousand surplus carts will be used but the RDN will still have another thousand to deal with. This will require delving into the terms of the 10-year contract the RDN has with the contractor. He hopes to bring in a report to the committee to explain if any adjustments may be need to be made.
