Airdronians who have their regular garbage pickup on Mondays will be able to include pet waste in their organics recycling green cart from June 15 to July 31.
The City of Airdrie announced June 8 the winners of an online contest held to pick which communities would participate in the pet waste pilot project. The contest was held from May 19 through June 5.
Residents of Prairie Springs, Luxstone, Coopers Crossing, Morningside, Hillcrest and Windsong won the right to participate in the pilot project after receiving 30 per cent of the online vote, according to the release. Approximately 900 people voted online.
The City’s organics recycling program was launched in April 2014 and has proven to be very popular and successful, according to the results of a survey conducted in November 2014 by Bannister Research and Consulting and presented to council on Jan. 19.
Since the organics program began in 2014, Airdrie has diverted four million kilograms of organics that were destined for the landfill. However, the disposal of pet waste has not been included in the organics program – until now.
According to the release, the pilot project will help the City determine if permanently allowing the disposal of pet waste in Airdrie’s organics recycling is a viable alternative.
City staff will take results from the pilot project, including resident feedback, and use it to decide if the recycling of pet waste through the curbside organics recycling program can be launched city-wide. A date for when those recommendations might be presented to City council has not been released.
For now, those participating in the pilot project will be required to dispose of their pet waste in a compostable bag, paper bag or simply by putting it loose in the organics cart. Kitty litter and plastic bags cannot be disposed of with the rest of your organics.
Smaller pets are not left out of the pilot project; newspaper shavings or wood shavings used as bedding for pets like gerbils and rabbits can also be recycled.
City staff from Waste and Recycling did not respond to requests for further information by press time.
