Black and blue carts, small, medium or large? — Morrisroe resident Pearl Richards is in a quandary over garbage containers.
Black and blue carts are coming to join Red Deer’s organic green carts in the spring — and all city households will soon have to choose which of three sizes they prefer for their new carts (black for landfilled refuse and blue for recycling).
It will be an interesting decision, said Richard — based on how much waste can be accumulated over two weeks.
“If it was just me I’d have a smaller (black) cart,” she added, but there’s also her husband to consider.
Starting on May 6, only the green cart for organic waste will be picked up weekly. The black and blue carts will be picked up every second week, on an alternating basis.
Larger households that produce more garbage, might consider having a large-sized 360-litre cart, while a medium-sized black or blue container will be equal to the 240-litre green cart, said Janet Whitesell, the city’s waste services superintendent.
Residents trying to avoid buying over-packaged products might consider a small 120-litre size black cart.
Following the successful green cart program for organics, introduced last May, the City of Red Deer will next be delivering 29,oo0 each of black and blue garbage carts in March and April, said Whitesell.
Red Deer households will first have to pick the size of their black or blue carts. The exact method of choosing hasn’t yet been finalized. (Those who want medium-sized carts to match their green carts won’t have to do anything, as this is the default size, said Whitesell.)
She intends to make a presentation to city council Monday, proposing that waste collection rates for people with small-sized black carts be lower because they are making the least impact on the landfill.
Morrisroe resident Danette Thompson sees sense in this.
“I never have much regular garbage,” she said, once the recyclables are organics are separated. And the single mother of a teenager still had enough room in her green cart to accommodate her neighbour’s yard waste when a tree was removed this summer.
While alternate weeks of garbage pick-up might be confusing at first, Dan Wind, an Eastview resident, said cities across North America and Europe use the multi-cart method of waste removal, so Red Deerians will get used to it too.
lmichelin@reddeeradvocate.com
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