In the spring of 2016, the Town of Niverville will be changing the method by which residents dispose of their household waste.
Niverville will be moving to an automated waste collection service using carts which will be provided to each household for free. If residents lose their carts or require additional carts, they will need to purchase new ones from the town office at a price that has yet to be determined.
Currently, residents are allowed to dispose of one bag (31 by 24 inches) or one container (37 gallons) of household waste each week. If residents have additional garbage, they must purchase surcharge stickers for $1 per additional bag or container at the town office or at Niverville Bigway. Grass clippings, leaves, and branches are required to be dropped off at the community compost site located north of the curling rink on Arena Road.
There is no limit on the amount of recycling that residents can dispose of through their blue bins.
The town currently contracts Bristal Hauling for waste removal and that relationship will continue. As with any services Niverville contracts out, there will be another RFP (request for proposal) process for waste removal services in the future, at which time the town will re-evaluate its options.
As Mayor Myron Dyck explains, the new carts are significantly larger than the bins residents currently use. “The carts are 64 U.S. gallons in size. The current bylaw is for 37 gallons, so this isn’t quite double but it will replace the surcharge stickers for additional bags.”
If residents don’t have enough room in their garbage carts, they will have to bring their extra
household waste to a designated waste transfer site (see sidebar).
The extra garbage could have an effect on residents’ future tax bills.
“We pay fees to the landfill based on tonnage. That’s what we are charged,” Dyck explains. “That fee is then distributed on the property tax statement as a separate line item for waste. We want to continue to encourage our residents to recycle, because recycling doesn’t cost our community anything so we don’t have to raise the garbage levy.”
Each cart will be labeled with the address of that residence to prevent carts from getting lost. Mayor Dyck notes that the carts are property of the town and therefore they should stay with the residence they are assigned to.
“The carts stay with the home,” says Dyck. “When people move, they should not take the carts. The Town of Niverville owns the carts.”
The town will notify residents as the change approaches. It is scheduled for April/May 2016.
