Black Diamond council has agreed to purchase two new bins for its residents – one for recyclables and another for organics.
The cost of the bins is $182,500 and will come from the Town’s capital reserves.
Black Diamond will extend an agreement with the Town of Okotoks for recycling and organic curbside pickup. Okotoks waste trucks have been picking up trash in the Black Diamond and Turner Valley for a year now as part of a three-year pilot project.
Black Diamond council unanimously defeated a motion in July to buy the bins, but after getting more information, changed their mind and agreed to moving forward with curbside pickup of recyclables and organics.
Coun. Jackie Stickel said Black Diamond council received the information they requested from administration to agree to adding to the Town’s curbside pickup.
“We all agreed it was important, but we weren’t sure of the hard numbers,” she said.
The move to include recycling and organics in curbside pickup could cost Black Diamond residents just under $10 more per month, up to $28.35 per month.
The cost still might not be enough to cover the cost of the service and operational funds may be needed for some time during the transition from the recycling centre to curbside pickup.
The service is expected to get started in April or May of 2022.
She said it was time to move forward with recycling and organic pickup.
“Curbside pickup has been in conversation for years,” she said.
Residents will need information on how to divide up their trash, Stickel said, to ensure the system works well.
“There needs to be lots of education to lots of people,” she said.
Town administrators asked for three months to develop an implementation and education plan and indicated Okotoks will be supplying educational materials for residents.
Currently, paper, glass, cardboard, metals and electronics can be taken to the Oilfields Recycling Centre, which Black Diamond and Turner Valley split the cost to run. The future of that recycling centre still needs to be determined.
The move to curbside recycling and organics pickup comes after council asked for more information on the cost of providing curbside pickup for its residents in late July.
Turner Valley council agreed to pay for bins in July and this month for organic bins.
Picking up organics and recyclables is expected to divert a significant amount of trash and in turn extend the life of the Foothills Regional Landfill.
An audit done in May showed 43 per cent of Black Diamond’s trash is organics and 20.4 per cent was recyclables.
