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By rdnewsNOW staff

scaling back pick-ups

Green carts to be collected bi-weekly during winter months

Sep 28, 2020 | 8:17 PM

Red Deer city council has approved a change to move green cart collection in the city to every other week during winter months.

Effective November 16, green carts will be collected every other week with blue carts instead of every week through early April when green carts will return to weekly collection to accommodate yard waste generation.

“Based on collection data from the past few years, we determined that weekly green cart collection is not necessary in cooler months when yard waste diminishes,” said Waste Superintendent Janet Whitesell. “We see a steep decrease in organics collected over the winter months, so this change will allow us to make our cart collection program that much more efficient.”

Updated cart collection calendars will be available on the City website in early October. Residents can also sign up for Cart Collection Alerts through Notify Red Deer for personalized reminders about which cart to set out each week. Residents can sign up or add these alerts to their existing account at reddeer.ca/notifyreddeer.

Council was also presented with information about a potential new Cart Exchange Fee to offset costs of future cart size exchanges. The City of Red Deer says that over the past year, nearly 2,000 blue and black cart exchanges were made at an overall cost of approximately $96,000.

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The proposed fee for exchanging a cart would see existing customers charged $50 each time staff visit their residence for a cart exchange. The fee would not apply to new customers. Repairs to defective or damaged carts would also be exempt from this fee. Council will revisit this option when the Utility Rate Bylaw goes to Council in March, 2021.

Council voted 5-4 in favour of the changes with councillors Buchanan, Wong, Lee, Johnston and Dawe supporting and Mayor Tara Veer and councillors Wyntjes, Handley and Higham opposed.

Residents with questions or concerns are encouraged to reach out by calling the Blue Line at 403-342-BLUE (2583) or emailing carts@reddeer.ca.

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