The Town of Battleford is extending its contract with Loraas Environmental Services to pick up the single stream recycling bin contents for another year.
Meanwhile, the administration and town council will be reviewing Battleford’s entire waste and recycling service.
The report is expected to prompt council to look at both short-term and long-term considerations, including mandatory recycling.
The Town’s current recycling scheme is the voluntary single stream collection area near the Alex Dillabough Centre. The monthly charge by Loraas is $4,024 per month to empty 15 bins twice a week, with an additional $35 per bin if additional pickups are needed. The amount has been adjusted annually according to the Consumer Price Index, said Town Administrator Sheryl Ballendine.
The waste and recycling review may indicate the possibility of the Town moving to a mandatory recycling scheme like North Battleford’s, in which residents are issued blue recycling bins in addition to the black refuse bins to be picked up on alternate weeks.
Currently, the town collects the garbage from the black bins once a week and, according to the season, compost from the green bins available for purchase by town residents. (A new garbage truck worth $260,000 replaced the 2003 vehicle this year.)
Since 2011, Battleford residents have also had the option of signing up with Loraas to have their own blue bins picked up every other week.
