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Black Diamond council considers counter compost containers

Council to hear update from administration on three-stream curbside collection
Black Diamond Municipal Building

Kitchen counter collection pails could be coming soon to Black Diamond homes in part of the town's organics collection program.  

Council is set to hear an update from administration regarding the three-stream curbside collection during Wednesday's meeting (March 2).  

There, they will be asked to consider including $6,600 in the solid waste goods budget to purchase $5 countertop pails which would be delivered alongside green carts.  

The “organic kitchen collectors” will be stamped with the items that can be tossed in there, providing an educational component “as well as providing a useful tool for transporting organic matter from the household to the green bin,” reads the report to council.  

The towns of Black Diamond and Turner Valley have been considering curbside pickup programs for recycling since 2018.  

A garbage audit completed last summer, though, underscored the need for an organics diversion program as well.  

Forty-two per cent of trash from Black Diamond homes, for instance, was organic materials. Meanwhile, 21 per cent was recyclable materials and 36 per cent was destined for the landfill.  

In October, Black Diamond council moved to authorize the purchase of blue and green bins for $184,000, plus shipping and handling. They also directed administration to work with Okotoks and Turner Valley to create an implementation program for curbside pickup.  

Carts were purchased and delivered earlier this year.  

Staff report they believe the program can start this year without costing residents any more money. The landfill’s tipping fee would be less and this, staff say, could help offset expenses from the organic and recycling programs.  

More details are set to come before council in a presentation from Okotoks Waste Services at the March 9 Joint Friendship Advisory Committee meeting.  

Black Diamond council is set to consider the additional expenditure in the March 2 meeting.   

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