City of Powell River’s solid waste collection information is moving online to provide residents data about collection dates, what can be recycled, and where.
City manager of operations Rod Fraser said for 2021, the city will be, for the most part, going paperless, and that information about garbage, recycling and composting will be featured on the city’s website.
In years past, the city has distributed a brochure to city residences, highlighting the solid waste program and providing a schedule for garbage collection and recycling. For 2021, Fraser said the thought is to lessen the load on the environment by not printing as much paper. There is also a significant cost savings.
“We are slowing down our paper production for 2021,” said Fraser. “There will still be a few schedules available at city hall for folks who really like to have that paper copy, but otherwise, we’ll have it available on the website.
“If people go to the website, they can find the tools they need so they are able to grab that paperless schedule, and if they really want to make their own copy and put it on their fridge, they can print that. The other options are great, too. We have the electronic one where you can sign up for curbside, which is the coolest little app. It will shoot you a reminder at a time prior to garbage, recycling and organics dates.”
Fraser said in his case, it sends him a text message the night before garbage is to be put out and tells him which week is scheduled for recycling. It also supplies information about organics pickup for those on the organics pilot project. He said in addition to texts, residents can receive tweets, voicemail or a phone alert.
“The technology enables us to reach out to everyone to update them on scheduling,” said Fraser.
He said it’s also a useful tool where there is a service interruption or something special going on. The city is able to reach out to the people who are on the curbside app and stream a message.
“We can say due to mechanical difficulties, your garbage day moves from X to Y or just anything like that,” said Fraser. “If there is inclement weather, or snow or ice, we can tell you when we can get to you.”
Another component of the online update is the waste wizard, so people will be able to punch in an item they are looking to recycle and find out if and where they can take the item to recycle. If it’s not immediately recyclable, it might raise a flag for the city, which can then lead to research into whether the product can be recycled.
Fraser said the efforts are related back to the city’s strategic plan where the vision is zero waste.
“This helps us along that path to zero waste,” said Fraser. “It’s another tool in our toolbelt that we’ll use to help realize that goal.”
Fraser said his department continues to work to improve the way it deals with the solid waste stream and is active in trying to bring further advancements to the collection system.
“We are definitely looking to improve the service we provide to our customers as far as efficiency and consistency,” said Fraser. “While we do that, hopefully, we can minimize the waste and maximize the recycling and organics opportunities.”
Fraser said the operations department next is looking at taking an automated collection system to city council.
“We’ve talked with council a couple of times now about automated, and we are moving down that track so we are hoping to have that discussion with them again and keep moving towards that automated system.”
The city has two trucks with automated arms designed to pick up bins designed for automated systems. Currently, garbage and recycling pickup is done manually, where it is handled by a garbage truck operator, but the composting pilot project uses the automated system.
Fraser said on the city’s website, on items pertaining to solid waste, there is a refresh being created to make it more streamlined and to highlight curbside and the waste wizard a little bit more so people are encouraged to use the apps. It’s hoped that ultimately, efforts can be made to reduce the amount of Powell River material being transported to Washington State for disposal in a landfill.
Information on the city’s solid waste program can be found at powellriver.ca. Under the departments heading, there is a section pertaining to garbage and recycling.
