Some Christmas relics are finally being picked up by Edmonton crews, after the city’s tree collection program was delayed due to weather-related issues.
The city usually wraps up its collection program by Jan. 31, but this year, extreme cold warnings led to truck problems for crews that put tree collection on the back burner.
“When it’s 30 below, you have a lot of truck breakdowns and challenges with that,” said Chris Dilling, the city’s supervisor for curbside collection. “We had to make sure we got our regular collection of waste and recycling first.
“We’ve collected as many trees as we can during this time.”
Around 10,000 trees are collected from around the city each year, said Dilling, with around six or seven crews devoted to the service.
Dilling said that anyone who hasn’t had their tree collected yet should make sure it’s accessible for pickup, now that service is ramping up.
“If your tree hasn’t been collected and it is buried in snow, please pull it out of the snow so we can find it and collect it,” he said.
The teams hope to get the pickups done by Feb. 14. If after that date, there are still trees left behind, residents should call 311.