As of July 2019, Salmon Arm residents will be saying goodbye to weekly garbage collection as the city transitions to bi-weekly pickup of solid waste, organic waste and recyclables.
On Monday, city council voted to accept a proposal from Armstrong-based SCV Contractors Corp. for the city’s curbside collection contract for July 1, 2019 to June 30, 2024.
The contract is based on collection of waste divided into three separate streams – solid, recyclable and food/organics. Solid waste pickup will switch from weekly to bi-weekly with single-use bags. Recyclables will be collected bi-weekly from bins or reusable bags, as single-use bags will be phased out. And food waste will be collected weekly in wheeled carts/cans.
The inclusion of a food waste collection service is expected to reduce the amount of solid waste going into the landfill, thus enabling the city to move to bi-weekly collection of solid waste. And while there will be up-front costs associated with the transition, including the acquisition of recycling bins and food waste carts (to be paid for by reserve funds and provided to residents at no additional cost), city staff is anticipating only a nominal increase per month, from $7.45 to $7.78, per residence.
“Our estimate at this point, based on some preliminary quotes, is about $600,000 for those upfront costs and our reserve is sitting at $735,000,” city engineer Jennifer Wilson explained to council. “Including all those upfront costs, we’re not expecting any change to the user rate and presently the user rate is $101.”
Wilson said the city will be looking at options for people who wish to continue with weekly solid waste collection, noting it would likely be an opt-in, user-pay system.
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The transition to recycling bins may occur in January 2019, when the city expects to renew its contract with Recycle BC for the curbside collection of printed paper and packaging.
Yard waste collection will remain status quo, with the city continuing with its bi-annual pick-up program. In addition, yard waste can be dumped off free of charge at the city’s Columbia Shuswap Regional District landfill.
Coun. Chad Eliason was elated with the proposed changes and the anticipated reduction to waste that will be going into the local landfill.
“Thirty-three cents extra and we’re going to add a service to what we already have, I think it’s excellent,” said Eliason.
In the coming year, Wilson said staff will be looking to hire a student who can go door-to-door to help educate residents about the changes, as well as using the city’s website and any other available avenues of public engagement.
“I think, actually, sorting the organics out is going to be a lot easier for people to understand than our recycling program because I still don’t get that,” laughed Wilson.
Correction: An earlier version of the above story wrongly stated food waste will be collected bi-weekly. Food waste collection will be weekly, while solid waste and recycling will be collected bi-weekly. We apologize for any inconvenience this error may have caused.
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