Front street garbage and recycling collection continues across the city until the second Monday in April, at which time households will switch back to their usual collection spots.
“After a challenging winter of huge snowfalls and slushy back lanes, our contractors have been much more successful collecting garbage and recycling since our switch to city-wide front collection,” said Janet Whitesell, waste management superintendent. “With two months left to go we’re reminding residents to move all waste to the front before the spring thaw. Anything left in lanes most of the winter will get really messy as things melt.”
As more residential areas receive the full priority 6 residential plow, snowplow crews will create breaks in the windrows for households to place their garbage and blue boxes on pickup day. Every few households will share these windrow breaks, and residents with windrows on their side of the street are asked to place their garbage and recycling in the nearest shared break for collection. Contractors can see and access garbage and blue boxes best in these shared breaks.
Starting April 14, households that received lane pickup prior to January 20 will once again place garbage and blue boxes in their lanes, while homes that always received front street collection will see no change. The switch back to the usual collection points coincides with the start of yard waste pickup on the second Monday in April.
With better driving conditions in front streets and continued plowing efforts focused there, The City switched to city-wide front street collection on January 20 to remedy the challenges contractors were facing with their trucks getting stuck in snowy lanes.
“We acknowledge that we weren’t meeting the needs of our customers, so we made a major operational change for the rest of the winter,” said Whitesell. “We understand some residents were frustrated when we missed garbage and blue box pickup, and we responded: Our contractors worked longer hours into the evening and worked weekends because of the weather delays.
“We temporarily waived drop-off fees at the Waste Management Facility for those households who were missed, and we set up a weekend drop-off in the neighbourhoods that were particularly tough to reach. We appreciate the patience of our customers for understanding that although we may have experienced delays, we have continually made adjustments this winter in an effort to provide collection service.”
Customers with questions about garbage and recycling pickup can visit www.reddeer.ca or call the Blue Line at 403-340-2583.
-Weber
