Yard waste collection starts April 11

“We have a big, big contamination issue at the beginning of the program,” says Shane Briggs with the City of Medicine Hat.

When contaminants get into the truck they have to be pulled out, which takes time away from pickup. Branches and stumps more than two inches in diametre and three-feet tall create a bottleneck at the compost facility and are a safety hazard for staff there.

This year the city will send street teams out to check carts to check for contaminants and other problems that can result in your waste not being collected.

“If we hit your area there’ll be a tag (on the cart) that says good job and you placed your bin out correctly and the contents were appropriate,” Briggs explains. “And then there’s also the other side of the card that says ‘oops,’ and basically it’ll educate the resident on what not to put in the yard waste cart.”

That side of the tag will also note concerns like the cart being set out too late or improperly positioned or it’s too heavy.

Briggs says a lot of people overfill their carts early in the year. He suggests putting some of that into your garbage or putting it aside and dumping it in the cart the next week.

The green cart street teams come a year after blue cart street teams began checking recycling carts last year. The carts will only be checked when on the street, and people won’t be entering private property.

Yard waste pickup will run until the middle of November and will be collected weekly the same day as your garbage and recycling.

There is a one-time fee of $50 to opt-in to the yard waste program, which Briggs says diverts about 4,000 tons of waste from the landfill each year. Close to 14,500 households have opted-in to the program.

Learn more about the yard waste program on the city’s website.

by Chris Brown

Yard waste collection starts April 11

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