Niverville introduced its new recycling carts on June 1, marking the start of a four-year contract with Bristal Hauling. Four other competing bids were reviewing by council. Recycling was previously handled by Eastman Recycling Services.
In addition to the upgrade to carts, which are more than twice as large as the old blue bins, another big change is that recycling services are moving to a biweekly schedule. This means that each household will have their recycling picked up every other week. Households along Fifth Avenue and east of Fifth Avenue are in the green zone, and households west of Fifth Avenue are in the blue zone. Green zone pickup begins on June 1, with blue zone pickup beginning June 8.
Residents in multi-family properties will retain weekly pickup.
A recent Town of Niverville newsletter advises residents of several rules to follow.
“All acceptable recyclable materials must fit into the container and the lid must close or the recycling cart will not be emptied,” the notice reads. “No extra material will be collected. Do not jam or pack items into your cart. Items must fall freely from the cart into the truck.”
The notice also advises residents to place their cart with the wheels against the curb, with three feet of clearance between the cart and any obstacles. For those without a curb, simply place the cart on the shoulder. The town reminds people to take their recycling to the road by 8:00 a.m. to ensure it gets picked up, and to return the cart to their property by midnight.
Options for Extra Recycling
Since the announcement of these changes, some residents have expressed concern that they collect too much recycling in a two-week period to fit into a single cart, despite the large size of the carts. For those households who anticipate having extra recyclables on an occasional basis, the town has said they will make arrangements to have it collected.
“By contacting the town office prior to Wednesday noon the day before your scheduled collection and paying a nominal fee of $2, the contractor will stop at your home and pick up the extra recyclable materials,” says Dyck. “For ease of collection, the recyclable materials must be placed either in a clear plastic bag or, if cardboard, compressed and tied.”
Other households anticipate having extra recyclables on a regular basis, and have inquired whether it would be possible to acquire a second cart. Dyck says that the town office will provide a second cart on request, for an annual fee of $100. He adds that the carts themselves cannot be purchased outright because they are owned and provided to the town by Bristal Hauling as part of their service contract.
A third option would be to upgrade your household to a weekly pickup schedule, which comes with an annual cost of $270.
“As with any new program, there will be a review of the new recycling collection method to ensure the town’s goals are being achieved,” says Dyck. “We trust that the new collection service will effectively resolve the challenge of recycling materials being blown around our community.”
Commercial Recycling
The new contract with Bristal only applies to residential properties, with commercial properties being subject to a different arrangement. A big reason for the difference is that the province subsidizes the cost of residential recycling, but not commercial.
According to the town’s previous contract with Eastman Recycling Services, commercial properties could participate in a cardboard recycling program at no cost. Fourteen businesses had signed up for this service. Nonetheless, it recently came to Eastman’s attention that its crews were incorrectly picking up all recyclables from commercial properties, despite not receiving any compensation for doing so. Essentially, businesses were getting their recycling picked up for free.
“To do both mixed recycling and cardboard, Eastman has to send two trucks to town as each is picked up by a different truck,” says Dawn Harris, Executive Director of the Niverville Chamber of Commerce. “The town continues to cover the cost of cardboard recycling, as it has done in the past, but has added all businesses to this service, not just the original 14.”
After consultation, the town and the Chamber jointly released a letter to the business community laying out a solution to the problem.
“The Town will continue to offer a commercial cardboard recycling program through Eastman Recycling at no cost to property owners who register with the Town and Eastman,” reads the letter. “Eastman Recycling Services is [also] pleased to offer a commercial co-mingled recycling program to all commercial properties within the Town of Niverville for an annual cost of $260 per business. This program will require a minimum of 40 businesses to register.”
The letter further explains that “co-mingled recycling” is the same level of service received by residential properties, except it will be a weekly service and not require the use of the new carts.
“The Town and Chamber feel that this program will allow the business community of Niverville, at a fair cost, to keep the same level of service that it has come to expect,” the letter concludes.
Harris says that there is solid support among Chamber members for this cost-effective proposal.
“We also appreciate the town asking the Chamber for its input,” Harris adds, “which demonstrates that the town recognizes it should consult with business before making decisions that affect business.”
