‘We’re finally ready’: Organics collection begins this week in Lethbridge

Thousands of green bins have been delivered to nearly every home across the city and Lethbridge is now ready to to launch its full-scale curbside organics collection.

Starting on Tuesday, collection will run weekly through the month of October and bi-weekly from November through April. Collection of blue and black carts for garbage and recycling, respectively, will not be impacted.

As part of its education efforts around organics programming, the City of Lethbridge has also launched a month-long contest for residents to take part in.

Every Tuesday over the next four weeks, the city will release a series of tasks on their website and Facebook page for residents to complete related to their new green cart.

Once the task is complete, residents can submit proof through the 311 chat function to verify their utility details.

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Participating in activities gives residents a opportunity to win one of four sustainable weekly prize packages, or one of 10 $500 gift cards to a Lethbridge business of their choice.

“(The contest allows) them to have a bit of a fun way to participate and try some things related to curbside organics to bring them along the journey with us towards successfully using their new organics cart,” processing manager with the city’s waste and environment department Steve Rozee.

“It’s a great conversation. A great link between community and business,” added CEO of the Lethbridge Chamber of Commerce Cyndi Bester.

1:26 First phase of curbside organics program diverts over 200,000 kg of waste; city report

James Nicholls, collections manager for the waste and environment department, reminding residents to not purchase plastic compostable bags for their kitchen pails.

“There’s a wide variety of products out there,” he said. “You can find products that claim to be biodegradable or compostable, but don’t actually break down during the composting process. So we’re going with a paper-only process at this time.”

Residents whose black and blue bin collection is on Tuesday will have their green cart collected on Wednesdays and vice versa. Residents with a Thursday pickup for black and blue bins will see their organics collected on Fridays, and vice versa.

For those worried about odour, Nicholls recommended keeping your bin in a shady area and layering food waste with yard waste.

“(Keep) it in a shady area, making sure that it’s not exposed,” he said.

A full list of “dos” and “don’ts” for each cart can be found on the city’s website.