The City of Weyburn is putting out a request for proposals (RFP) for recycling services, with the goal to have a decision on recycling by early fall.
Meantime, the recycling of plastic milk jugs is no longer available through SARCAN, which discontinued taking the jugs as of July 1.
City residents now have the option of paying a fee to one of two local companies who do blue-bin curbside recycling, or send them to the landfill.
“The City is issuing a Request for Proposal (RFP) for a Multi-Material Recycling Program. This RFP will be posted on SaskTenders, on the City website and will be advertised in the Weyburn Review,” said city engineer Sean Abram.
In regard to milk jug recycling, he said, “If there is no alternative (local or within a reasonable travel distance), then the milk jugs may have to go to the landfill. We are looking at an interim solution, but no decision has been made.”
“We were kind of left out in the blue,” said Coun. Mel Van Betuw, chair of the City’s Environmental Resources committee, who noted they discussed this issue on Monday morning.
Asked if the city was looking for bins for recycling, such as are currently available for paper and cardboard, or curbside bin recycling, he said they will look at options for both, or for a combination of both, and see which will be the most economical and best service for the residents.
“Hopefully, citizens will refrain from putting them into the city landfill. It’s hard for the city to control that even with a program in place. It’s a personal responsibility to recycle. You can’t force people to throw their things into the right bin,” said Coun. Van Betuw.
The two local services that offer blue-bin recycling are Blue Earth Environmental and Goliath Disposal. Both companies have specific lists of what they will or will not accept, but both do accept plastic milk jugs, among many other things, including numbered plastic containers from 1 to 7.
