The City of Red Deer is ready to talk trash — in public.
On Saturday, residents are invited to have their say on the city’s aggressive 10-year plan to reduce the amount of waste ending up in the dump by 40 per cent.
The first of three scheduled public consultations on the proposed Waste Management Master Plan kicks off at Parkland Mall.
Janet Whitesell, the city’s Waste Management superintendent, said they want to ensure they have the right stuff in the plan and if there is anything missing or there needs to be any changes, they will tweak the plan.
Some of the key highlights in the blueprint include expanded plastics collection, reduced container limit and enhanced organics collection that would be implemented over the next decade.
A survey can be found at www.reddeer.ca/wmmp.
City staffers will meet with business stakeholders over the next two months.
City council will have the final say on the plan in mid-May.
By adopting the plan, the city would commit to a 2023 target of 500 kg from 817 kg or 40 per cent reduction in waste per capita. The Canadian average is 777 kg per capita while the provincial average is 1,122 kg per capita (Statistics Canada, 2010).
The booth will be set up at Parkland Mall from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday.
The next open houses are scheduled for Tuesday (from 4 to 9 p.m.) and Feb. 23 (10 a.m. to 4 p.m.), both at the Collicutt Centre. A booth will also be set up at the Red Deer Home Show from March 8 to 10.
The first Waste Management Plan was developed in 1992 and updated in 1998 and 2005.
In early 2012, Sonnevera International Corp. was hired to overhaul the plan.
crhyno@www.reddeeradvocate.com