Airdrie residents are being asked to provide their feedback on the City of Airdrie’s recycling services, just months after organics recycling was introduced.
“We’re basically just looking to get a high level view of what the residents are looking for in future recycling in our city,” said Tracey Chala, team leader, Waste & Recycling Services for the City of Airdrie.
“We want to get some initial feedback from them as a starting point.”
Chala said the City is asking residents to comment on a couple of different options for how to deal with recycling.
“It comes down to two options, either something that looks like curbside collection or something that looks like a depot system that will have to be enhanced from where it currently is now,” Chala said.
The City introduced organics recycling in April 2014. The $5.26 paid each month includes $3.95 for the organics program and $1.41 is an increase in garbage pick up costs set by the City of Calgary.
Chala said the survey is just the first step in determining how recycling will look in the city.
“Once the survey closes, the survey results will be presented to council and then they’ll be the ones who will make the decision on what direction we go,” she said.
“From there we can delve deeper into some of the issues associated with whatever direction we choose.”
As published in the March 6, 2014 edition of the Airdrie City View, not everyone in Airdrie wants to see the City of Airdrie implement curbside blue box recycling.
Kick it to the Curb Owner Carolyne Christie said at the time, “this would obviously put me out of business, I can’t compete with the major corporations, but that’s a risk I knew I’d be taking when I started this business. We’ve always been an active part of the community and supported this community so I would hope that they would support us in return.”
Chala said council will weigh a number of factors when deciding whether or not to introduce curbside recycling.
“That is definitely a factor that would be considered in council’s decision,” Chala said.
“There are a number of factors that will go into their decision; resident feedback is one of them, impact on the community, impact on private businesses (that already offer curbside recycling), the impact on the budget, the cost to residents, that sort of thing.”
Chala said she hopes the survey results will be presented to council early in 2015, however, it will depend on the information gleaned.
“If it comes out clearly for one option over another, that will dictate how the future will unfold,” she said. “If it comes out really 50/50 split, it will be harder to see the direction we’re headed in.”
Response to the survey since it launched on Nov. 7 has been “overwhelming”, according to Chala. As of Nov. 10, 1,410 responses had been recorded.
“That is a tremendous participation rate,” Chala said.
The survey is available online at airdrie.ca and will remain open until Nov. 21.
