The City of Weyburn's new automated refuse system had its first full week of operation with a few glitches, but there were no major problems as residents adjusted to the new system with the new large bins.
The City of Weyburn's new automated refuse system had its first full week of operation with a few glitches, but there were no major problems as residents adjusted to the new system with the new large bins.
Some people received a pink tag for their first time, said Jesse Watamanuk, assistant engineer for the city, but people shouldn't stress too much over them. Most of the time, he said, the tags indicated a problem with where the resident placed the bin, or if someone put extra refuse on top of it.
Placement problems usually involved a resident putting the bin too close to a pole or a tree, or up on a boulevard or snow bank.
Watamanuk advised that ideally, the bin should be as far away from these objects or from vehicles as possible to enable the truck to get in and pick it up properly.
He had one instance where someone else threw garbage into a home-owner's bin.
"People can share bins, but they should definitely ask before putting their garbage into someone else's bin. It's a little hard for us to monitor that; the best solution might be to just roll out the bin the morning of pickup, as it's unlikely people would dump into it early in the morning," said Watamanuk.
One problem might be that a house was missed; he estimates out of the over 3,600 bins delivered to city homes, perhaps 10 homes might have been missed. In this case, they only need to call City Hall, and a bin will be brought out to them.
Also, Watamanuk said if there are any defects or damages, such as a crack in the bin, a broken lid or a wheel that falls off, they are again to immediately let City Hall know so the problem can be fixed right away.
As far as the refuse that was put into the bins, Watamanuk said they encountered no problems with hazardous or wrong materials put into bins.
"Overall, there were a lot of positive things with this new system. It's new for them, and it's new for us, but I think it's a good change. Our guys are learning, and people for the most part have got it right," said Watamanuk.
