Upcoming Yard Waste Program Changes
By now, you have likely received a flyer in your mailbox about the upcoming yard waste program changes. Let’s take a moment to talk about it!
What’s the change?
Monday, August 28 will be the last day for Monday yard waste collection in brown kraft bags. As of Tuesday, September 5, weekly yard waste collection will be in green carts on your regular pickup day only.
What if I have more yard waste than will fit in my green cart?
Option 1: Upgrade to a bigger cart! We now have 240L green carts available. That’s the same size as your current black (garbage) and blue (recycling) cart. There’s a one-time fee of $45 for this cart (and that’s less than you paid initially for your current 120L green cart). To order, please contact us (contact info below) and we’ll swap it for you. New carts will be delivered immediately to anyone ordering by August 25. Orders placed after that will be delivered when supplies and staff are available.
Option 2: Drop off additional yard waste in brown kraft bags at our free drop-off location, the Public Works yard at 5003 Graham Ave. This will be available on Mondays from 8:30 am-4:00 pm, from the third Monday in April to the first Monday in November—this year, that means drop-off runs on Mondays till November 6.
Option 3: Can’t make it on Mondays? The Thornhill Transfer Station (3016 Old Lakelse Lake Rd) accepts yard waste on Saturdays, Sundays, and Mondays: May 1–Oct 31 it’s from noon to 7 pm, and from Nov 1–April 30 it’s from noon to 5 pm.
Option 4: Gearing up for a big fall clean-up? We’ll have an additional drop-off day at the Public Works yard on a Saturday in the next few months to help with fall clean-up. Stay tuned for details.
What goes where?
Your green curbside cart can contain all organics as before, including food scraps as well as yard waste. However, the drop-off location at the Public Works yard can only include yard waste—grass clippings, branches, leaves, etc. Please bag them as usual in brown kraft bags for drop-off.
Why was this necessary?
We have two types of trucks. Our newer type uses a mechanical arm to pick up carts, and that’s the one you see each week collecting black, blue, and green carts Tuesday through Friday. Our older type of truck could only be used to pick up bags manually (by hand). Maintaining equipment for both the manual yard waste pickup and automated refuse, recycling, and organics pickup proved to be very costly. Not only that, but it also is very labour-intensive (and potentially dangerous when bags are overloaded) for staff to repeatedly hoist bags by hand, and ensuring their health and safety is a high priority.
When the two manual trucks finally reached the end of their life and were due for replacement, staff determined that replacing them with a similar model didn’t make sense—better to replace them with another truck with a mechanical arm, so that it could be put into use throughout the week when needed and keep all trucks running better for longer. This also saved local taxpayers like you the cost of purchasing two new trucks, since this program has reduced our fleet from four total trucks to three.
However, the trucks with mechanical arms can only pick up carts, not bags—so the current yard waste program is no longer compatible with our fleet. In spring 2022, we presented several options and invited public feedback on four proposed options as well as other ideas. The responses were mixed, and we recognize that—but we selected to use two of the proposed options in tandem to help address this: bigger green carts plus a drop-off location.
How can I get more information?
- Keep reading this blog for lots of great info on refuse-related topics!
- Browse Recycle Coach (tip: the app is great!) to search for what goes where.
- Contact us directly: Call 250-615-4019 or email recycle@terrace.ca
