Estevan residents have consistently continued to use the curbside recycling service over the last couple of years.
In a report filed to Estevan city council for the July 17 meeting, Councillor Travis Frank said approximately 15 to 20 per cent of waste has been diverted from the landfill through curbside recycling. It is a consistent number compared to the other communities Regens serves.
Frank is the sales and marketing manager for Regens Disposal, which handles the trash and recycling services for the city. Curbside recycling was introduced locally in September 2013.
The numbers from Regens indicate there were 48,180 recycling carts emptied in 2015, while there were 167,828 trash bins emptied that year. The garbage bins are emptied on a weekly basis, while the recycling bins are picked up once every two weeks.
Recycling activity in 2015 peaked in June with 5,105 carts being emptied. The highest average cart weight that year was 9.2 kilograms in October, although only 3,091 carts were emptied that month.
The busiest month for trash pickup in 2015 was in June, when 15,920 carts were emptied. June was also the top month for average cart weight at 22.89 kilograms.
Recycling activity increased a little in 2016, when 49,441 carts were emptied. The busiest month came in May, when 5,032 carts were emptied. The top month for average weight was in June at 9.08 kilograms.
As for trash carts, there were 168,592 emptied last year. June was once again the busiest month, as 15,874 bins were emptied. And June again led the way for average cart weight at 24.41 kilograms per cart.
In the first six months of this year, 23,455 recycling containers have been emptied, which means the pace is a little off from the previous two years. May was once again the top month for recycling, as 4,877 carts were emptied. The highest average weight came in January, when the 3,717 carts weighed an average of nine kilograms.
There were 81,152 trash bins emptied, which is also a little bit off of last year’s pace. May was the busiest month, with 15,771 carts, and the highest average weight came in June, when the weight came in at 22.07 kilograms.
“The great thing is this is several years here where we’ve seen the same numbers across the board,” said Frank.
They have seen an increase in non-recyclable materials winding up in recycling bins, so Regens is trying to remind the public about what can be recycled.
Frank noted trash typically increases during the summer months, thanks to yard and lawn clippings, as well as other organic materials that are being put into the trash carts.
Regens is looking to offer organic recycling in the near future, he said, which would divert more material from the landfill, and allow the material to decompose faster and in a cleaner environment. The organics would be turned into a soil product that can then be reused.
Frank said the service would be on a volunteer basis at the start. Regens would manage it themselves.
