Editor’s note: The blue bags will be picked up every other week, as opposed to every week.
Grand Forks residents will see an increase in monthly garbage fees by a dollar in the next billing period.
City councilors approved Bylaw 1927, the residential garbage collection rates and regulations amendment bylaw, on Sept. 4 in response to the increase of tipping fees and the new green bin program.
“We were going to have to look at the rates anyway because the landfill tipping fees have gone up,” explained Lynne Burch, Grand Forks’ chief administrative officer. “We also had to look into accommodating the green bin but it’s a very minimal increase.”
The residential garbage collection service will go from $9 per month, or $108 per year for each dwelling unit, to $10 per month or $120 per year.
Residential dwelling, by definition in the bylaw, means single family dwellings, duplexes, triplexes, row houses, townhouses, gated communities and manufactured home parks in Grand Forks.
The changes in the bylaw will change garbage collection to one bag collected every two weeks, rather that the current two bags of garbage collected every week. The green bin will be collected every week, and yard waste collection will remain the same and be collected nine times per year.
In accordance with the new green bin program, the bylaw was also amended to include the definition of “food waste recycling,” which has been changed to food scraps and other materials that are a byproduct of a plant or an animal. Food scraps include baked goods, eggs and eggshells, cheese, seafood shells, candy, fruit pits, fish bones, meat.
“We had to add the definition for food scraps recycling in there so it wouldn’t be considered garbage anymore,” Burch explained. “It will be considered food scraps recycling that goes into the green bin. When we deliver the green bins, there will be information delivered to each person as they receive the green bin.”
Burch noted that blue bags, used for recycling items such as plastic water bottles, would also be picked up every other week, alternating with garbage pick-up.
Bylaw 1927 states that every owner of a residential dwelling unit should provide and maintain a container in good repair to contain the garbage. The maximum weight of one container should be 22 kilograms.
If owners have an excess of the one bag limit, they must purchase a “tag-a-bag” tag for all extra containers or bags of garbage. The tags are $3 each and can be purchased at City Hall or Overwaitea.
Similarly, yard waste collection may be in a can without a lid, in a compostable paper bag or in wrapped bundles weighing a maximum of 22 kilograms. There is a maximum of three containers, bags or bundles for yard waste.
For each bundle of tree prunings, it must be three inches (7.6 centimetres) in diameter or less and three feet long (91 cm). It shouldn’t exceed the equivalent of the size of a garbage can.
The next yard waste collection will occur on Oct. 22 on the north side of Highway 3 between Riverside Drive and North Fork Road, Oct. 23 in the Ruckle addition and Valley Heights area, and Oct. 26 on the south side of Highway 3, between Riverside Drive and Spraggett Road.
The new rates take effect during the next billing period in October, and the green bin program will begin on Oct. 1. The green bins will be delivered to residents in Grand Forks in the week prior to October.
To find out when your garbage and recycling pick-up dates are, visit city.grandforks.bc.ca or rdkb.com, or call the Regional District of Kootenay Boundary at 1-877-447-9265.
