A new era of recycling in Estevan will kick off on Sept. 9 when the much talked about curbside recycling program officially begins.
Homes in the city had the large blue bins delivered on Monday and Tuesday in anticipation of the Sept. 9 kick off. The service will first be in the Pleasantdale area while the remainder of Estevan will follow in October.
Despite the initial anger over the system, most of which was tied to garbage collection and not recycling, many in the community are excited for the new program to begin. Logan Baniulis of Regens Disposal said the company is equally as excited to introduce it to the Energy City.
"I have gotten a lot of positive feelings from people people I deal with have said they are personally excited," Baniulis said.
Unlike programs in a number of other communities, the program here in Estevan uses one bin for all recyclables including paper, plastics, glass and tin cans.
Baniulis said they have been using the same system in Radville, Stoughton and Fillmore since early August, which has helped serve as a test run for Estevan.
"It's been good to kind of ease our way into it," he said. "The recycling facility (which is located in Bienfait) has gotten a better idea of what exactly is coming in."
Although the system allows for all recyclables to be placed in one bin, Baniulis said the public must still be cognizant of what they are putting in as well as the need for some items to be cleaned.
First and foremost, Baniulis said they ask that any soiled paper, food and general garbage not be thrown into the bins and any bottles, containers and cans be rinsed before they are recycled. (A list of the dos and don'ts and other pertinent information can be found on A16.)
Any bagged material - with the exception of shredded paper - is not to be placed in the bins.
"I'd recommend either putting in a box and dumping it into the house or, if you bag it, go and empty the bag into the cart. Don't throw bags of recyclables into the cart because as you can imagine to sort that later becomes quite an issue.
Baniulis said one of the best features of the new program is the convenience of having one bin and not needing to separate many of the items. They are also going the extra mile when it comes to letting the public know which day is their particular recycling day with a reminder service on their website - www.regensdisposal.ca
On the site, residents can provide their e-mail address or cell phone number to receive a reminder via text message, e-mail or a phone call. Users can also set up when they would like to receive the reminder. As well, there is a printable yearly calendar on the site.
"We really think (this is the most convenient system)," Baniulis said. "It's every other week, which is nice, you'll get into a nice routine. There are other ways to do it. The single stream increases our costs, but we feel it is the service the resident is going to best interact with and the best service to the resident. At the end of the day we strive to provide the service that our customer wants."
Baniulis said one of the keys to the success of the new system will be the participation of residents and he hopes those who have not recycled in the past will now begin to. He added their goal is to reduce material going to the landfill by 50 per cent, which, of course, is contingent on the participation of residents. Since their program began earlier this year Regina has had a 70 per cent participation rate and Baniulis said they hope to exceed that in Estevan.
