North Battleford's blue bins now line every street on pick-up days. In Battleford, where mandatory recycling has yet to take root, there is still just a smattering of bins set out for pick up every other week.
There are some rumblings at Town Hall however that the town, too, will make the blue bins mandatory.
Hip, hip hooray to that idea. That would bring the Town back into line with its past leadership role in the area of waste management. Residents there have had rollout bins for several years, and for the same period of time have had the option of purchasing a compost bin that is picked up on a weekly basis.
The City has closed its former communal compost drop-off area, but has yet to come up with a plan to offer an alternative for those who want to dispose of grass clippings and other organic waste in an environmentally friendly manner.
The Town currently offers a communal recycling depot, which over the years has been a testament to just how ignorant some people can be as they dump everything from fluorescent light tubes to television sets and broken lawn furniture into the bins.
Those wanting to access a blue bin can subscribe to a Loraas service to obtain a blue bin and access their bi-weekly pickup service. I've been doing that for three years, and I love my blue bin. I no longer have to go through the aggravation of storing recyclables and then hauling them to the communal site, only to come away discouraged with the entire process because of all the trash I see there.
Into the blue bin go all kinds of things that used to go into my garbage buddy, and while it is sometimes a challenge to fit everything into the blue bin on a bi-weekly schedule, my garbage could be dumped only every three weeks and it likely would not fill up.
That's because between the town's compost bin (and the one I have in my back yard) and my subscribed-to blue bin, not much goes into the garbage from our household.
I think it's time everyone embraced the system.
