Kicking off the regional curbside garbage collection pilot program in Black Diamond and Turner Valley next month requires the help of residents for the next couple of weeks.
In preparation for the initiative, which begins the first week of June, garbage carts must be equipped with radio frequency identification tags that will allow the Town of Okotoks – which is operating the program - to collect data from each cart.
When rolling their carts to the curb on garbage day on May 19, 20, 26 and 27 in Turner Valley and May 21, 22, 28 and 29 in Black Diamond, residents are required to leave them out for the entire day to allow the tags to be installed.
“For example, if your scheduled pickup day is on Tuesday, then we ask that you place your cart out for regular collection, but leave it out until 7 p.m.” said Turner Valley operations manager Craig Beaton. “This will give us enough time to tag your cart.”
Beaton said the identification tags will help the Town of Okotoks track cart collection, while also improving cart management and customer service.
Councils in both towns agreed last month to participate in the regional curbside garbage collection pilot program with Okotoks. The pilot project runs until the end of November.
During the pilot project’s duration, garbage will be collected Tuesday rather than Tuesday and Wednesday in Turner Valley, and Thursdays rather than Thursday and Friday in Black Diamond.
In 2018, the Towns of Okotoks, Turner Valley, Black Diamond, High River, Nanton and Foothills County received an inter-municipal collaboration grant to examine options for regional waste management programs.
The Town of Okotoks acted as the managing partner for the grant and a technical advisory group was created to represent technical experts in each municipality. The group worked with civic engineering firm GHD to develop the Regional Solid Waste Management Plan, which provides a long-term vision for solid waste management within each community including waste reuse, reduction, recycling, recovery and residual management activities.
Last fall, Turner Valley council directed administration to work with the participating partner administrations to develop an agreement and implementation time.
