Langdon recycling program

Shannon LeClair
Times Reporter

 

At the beginning of October Langdon’s new waste management and curbside recycling program began.
“Like any other program there’s always a few glitches when you get going, but they definitely have tapered off. In the beginning we had some challenges with missed pick-ups that type of thing, now most of the calls are related to a technical glitch that we’ve got,” said Dave Whitfield, Solid Waste and Recycling Advisor for Rocky View County.
“For some reason we’re having some partial pick ups where the contractor dumps the bin but there’s maybe one or two small bags left in the bottom. We’re working with the contractor on that to see if we can resolve that issue. For a new program I think it is going very well.”
Discussion about waste management began two years ago when Rocky View County sent representatives to Langdon for community consultations.
“The thing with waste is the cost of tipping fees is going through the roof and so leaving everything the way it is, is never something you can do when you’re dealing with garbage and recycling,” said Rocky View Councillor Rolly Ashdown. “So by moving to a higher amount of recycling and a lesser amount of garbage, first off it’s good for the environment and the second thing is it’s a lot cheaper.”
Prior to implementation of the new program, residents had two bags of garbage at the curb and then in order to recycle an item, residents would have to physically bring it in to a recycling depot.
Residents were asked during the consultations what they wanted to do. The cart options were black carts for garbage, the blue carts for recycling, and the green carts for composting.
“A percentage of them wanted to go with the black carts so you can automate services and a percentage of them wanted go with the black and blue carts so you can have the garbage and then also the recycling and then another portion wanted to go with the black, the blue and the green carts,” said Ashdown.
The report was brought forward to council and it was decided to go with the majority, which would be a combination of the blue and the black carts.
“They (council) thought, if there’s two bags of garbage, most likely half of that is going to be recyclable materials, so instead of having 120 litres times two, which half is recycling, they went with 120 litre bin and they went with a 240litre larger recycling bin and so the fees for the garbage went down a little bit,” said Ashdown.
Fees for waste removal went from $12.50 to $20 per month, which includes the costs for the garbage, the recycling and reimbursement to the county, which paid for all of the bins.
After 90 days Rocky View County administration will be taking a look at the program and seeing how the program is working with the community, making sure the bin sizes are correct and so on.
Ashdown lives in Langdon, and said he deals with the same things that other residents do, including the new waste management program.
“I think it’s kind of neat, you take your pile of papers and thrown them in the blue bin, you take your cans and throw them in there, it’s great,” said Ashdown.
A list of what can and can’t be recycled can be found at rockyview.ca under services, garbage, Langdon collection. There’s a page for concerns, which is monitored daily. There will also be a frequently asked questions section posted as questions continue to come in. How well the program is working to date is not available, but in both Whitfield’s and Ashdown’s opinions … things seem to be going well.