Submitted by the City of North Battleford
The City of North Battleford has earned the 2015 Saskatchewan Waste Minimization Award in the municipality category for the successful implementation of the Residential Waste Collection Program in 2014.
The 2015 award ceremony was hosted April 21 by the Saskatchewan Waste Reduction Council during their 2016 Waste ReForum in Regina. The awards “recognize excellence in waste reduction in Saskatchewan, and are intended to promote leadership and inspire all sectors of the province to undertake waste reduction activities. They are intended to provide well-deserved recognition and to highlight success stories for others to consider adopting.”
Up until April 2014, household waste collection in North Battleford was a combination of back alley communal bins and individual front-street rollout garbage bins for neighbourhoods without back alleys. Residents who wished to recycle had the option to use one of the three unsupervised recycling depots located throughout the city or sign up for a blue rollout bin, collected once every two weeks.
City administration and council identified major and increasing issues with the existing waste management program and acknowledged it was time to revisit the concept. After several consultations it was decided to implement a waste management program where all residential properties receive a black rollout cart for solid waste and a blue rollout cart for recyclable material. It was also decided to have bins picked up on a biweekly basis to keep costs for services down and encourage residents to recycle.
By implementing the new system the City and its residents were able to bring the amount of household waste down by 50 per cent within two years. The new program also made it mandatory for residents to recycle. In the first year, the amount of recyclables decreased by 62 per cent, proving that residents still had to learn to recycle. In 2015 the amount of recyclables went up by 60 per cent. This number clearly indicates residents are now recycling more and more. The switch from big communal bins to smaller carts for each residence and the introduction of the blue bins also prevented non-residents from illegally disposing of their waste and recyclables into the previously provided bins. This result also contributes to the decrease in household waste and recycling.
“Ultimately, this award goes to the residents of North Battleford,” says Tammy MacCormack, environmental manager with the City.
“They were the ones that provided advice and wholeheartedly supported this award-winning program. This award would not have been possible without them.”
