Trash talk: New Edmonton carts roll out Monday
'We have Edmontionians who are so excited and we also have some Edmontonians who are nervous'
Prepare to hear a lot of trash talking over the next 5½ months as a new waste collection system rolls out to 250,000 households in Edmonton.
Single-family homes and multi-family homes that currently get curbside collection are moving to the new system, says Jodi Goebel, director of waste strategy with the City of Edmonton.
You can see more from the Ambleside Eco Station on Our Edmonton Monday at 11 a.m. on CBC TV and CBC GEM.
The new $64-million process has been more than a decade in the making, Goebel says, and is designed to divert waste from the landfill more efficiently.
The move to an automated system, where carts are lifted to the truck by a mechanical arm, will also make the job easier and safer for garbage collectors, she says.
"It's a big change, and we have Edmontonians who are so excited and we also have some Edmontonians who are nervous," Goebel says.
What goes where
Edmontonians will be asked to store their organic waste, like apple cores, potato peels and coffee grounds in a kitchen pail and then toss them into a green 120-litre food-scraps cart.
Homeowners can choose between two sizes of garbage carts — 240 litres or 120 litres — for trash such as kitty litter, chip bags, diapers and Styrofoam. These carts will be collected every 2 weeks year-round.
There's no initial cost to the homeowner for the pail or the carts, but starting in October residents with the larger cart will see their monthly utility bill rise by $1.10 to $48.32, while those who order the smaller version will see their monthly rate drop by $3.90 to $43.32, Goebel says.
If you're one of the households and haven't already chosen a cart size, you will receive the larger one which you can exchange starting April 6.
The blue bag recycling system will remain the same.
The city will collect yard waste twice in the spring and twice in the fall with no limit on volume.
However leaves, grass clippings and twigs can go into the green cart, which will be collected weekly during the spring, summer and fall and every two weeks in the winter.
Common concerns
Homeowner Ray Lee believes the biggest problem with the news system will be the odour emanating from the food-scraps carts.
"In the summertime it can be pretty smelly, I don't know where the heck to put it," Lee says. "If you put it outside the whole neighbourhood will smell, put it inside the house will smell. That's my worry."
He also wonders how many people will go to the time and effort of learning the new system and sorting their trash properly.
Mill Woods resident Allyson Dueck, who participated in the pilot program in 2019, found she could reduce the odours by repositioning the cart depending on the season.
"In the winter I had the green cart right on the deck outside my side door, because it's frozen so it's not going to smell, but in summer I have it around the corner of the house," Dueck says.
Dueck opted for the smaller garbage cart.
"I took it as a personal challenge to have as little waste as possible," says Dueck, who has lived in Saskatoon, Vancouver and Burnaby, all of which have cart systems.
The rollout
The city expects homeowners to take between two and six weeks to adjust to the new system.
There are six different phases of distribution throughout the city and, Goebel says, you can use the address tool to find out when — between now and Sept. 1 — your cart will arrive.
The city has developed videos, posters and an app to help people figure out what goes where.
It is hosting virtual information sessions and educational workshops from now until the fall, Goebel says.
"We're on a mission to make more waste nerds," she says.
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Goebel believes the changes will bring Edmonton in line with other jurisdictions in terms of diverting waste.
"We take some comfort in knowing that we're not more dense than Toronto and they've got a cart-based collection. We don't have more snow than Winnipeg and they have a cart-based collection and we don't have more hills than San Francisco."
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