EDMONTON – Edmonton is moving to weekly residential garbage pickup on the same day all year-round, waste management branch manager Roy Neehall said Tuesday.
The change, which starts Feb. 5, will end the current winter schedule that sees trash collected about once every eight days and will lead to more consistency for homeowners, Neehall said.
“You will have the same day collection every week of the year,” he said. “There will be no change from winter to summer.
“(Now) it changes after every stat holiday. There are periods where you could be 12 days without service.”
The extra six collection days a year won’t increase costs, Neehall said.
Instead, larger trucks purchased by the branch will allow crews to work 10 hours a day Tuesday to Friday instead of five eight-hour weekly shifts, improving productivity and efficiency, he said.
Mondays will be used for vehicle maintenance and other work. Garbage won’t be collected Christmas and New Year’s, but staff will work longer to make up the time.
The move should be a relief to people unsure about their current “confusing” schedules, he said.
“Even though we provide them with calendars, even though we tell them year after year, we still have residents calling wanting to know, ‘What is the day of collection?’”
Mayor Stephen Mandel said having a consistent collection day will make life easier in his home, where he and his wife are often unsure when the garbage truck is coming.
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“Now we know we’re going to get one day, and we can put it out that day,” Mandel said. “I think that’s a good thing.
“I think Mr. Neehall is doing a brilliant job putting together the best waste management system in North America.”
However, monthly waste service fees are still slated to go up in 2013 to $35.36 from $33.20.
Neehall blames the hike on higher hauling and landfill costs because of the private west Edmonton facility closing, a downturn in the recycling market, interest expenses and other charges.
The price of disposing of commercial waste at the waste management centre in Clover Bar will rise to $80 a tonne from $75, and dropping loads at Eco Stations will cost an extra $3.
City council will vote on the waste and sewer utility budgets Tuesday afternoon before discussing the spending plans for the community services department.
For more info on the City’s garbage collection program, click here.
More to come…
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