Rocky View County’s (RVC) Ag Roundup program is returning to the county this summer, offering farmers the chance to part with their hard-to-recycle materials.
This year, Ag Roundup days kick off July 15 and run each Wednesday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at various locations until Sept. 2.
“Earlier this year, we were not sure if we would be able to do the event, due to COVID, but we’re happy to report we got the event up and running,” said Jennifer Koole, RVC’s lead solid waste advisor. “We’ll just have one less event than last year and we’ll be changing the dates to be a bit earlier in the year – starting later but ending earlier.”
The roundups will be held at the Bottrel General Store, Balzac Fire Station, Westlife Community Church in Springbnak, the Madden Chuck Wagon site, the Delacour Community Hall, the Jumping Pound Community Hall and the Weedon Pioneer Hall. A full list of locations and dates is available at rockyview.ca
Now in its 12th year, the program accepts materials commonly used on farms and acreages, such as plastic twine, oil, grain bags, wire, paint, unused pesticides, tires and hazardous household chemicals.
Meanwhile, mesh wrap, silage wrap, scrap metal, appliances, fertilizer bags, wood, feed, seed and other organics – including yard waste and hay – will not be accepted.
“We want to emphasize this is a recycling event and no garbage is accepted,” Koole said.
One change from previous years is the manner in which grain bags will be accepted.
“The grain bag program is now a provincial program – that may change the way some people [have to] prepare the material for recycling,” Koole said. “We’ll need the bags to be extra clean and super tightly wound if they can.”
To comply with public health advisories, physical distancing measures will be in place and RVC encourages visitors to wear masks when dropping off materials.
“We usually have about 50 people attend the events, so we’re not anticipating needing to do anything more than just [enforcing] two-metre distancing between site-users,” Koole said. “If people are more comfortable wearing a mask, we encourage that. But there will be no changes to how the material will be accepted or prepped.”
RVC's Ag Roundup program has grown in popularity over the years. According to Koole’s 2019 summary report on the program, 333 residents attended the roundup days last year – the second-highest number of users since the program was introduced in 2009.
“Overall, our usage is up and our tonnages are up as well for some materials, but not all,” she said. “It’s either steady or growing, and we add more materials every year as well.”
Koole said the opularity of the program continues to grow because it is both convenient and an environmentally conscious way for producers to recycle.
“We want agriculture producers to be able to recycle as much material as possible to keep it out of the landfills,” she said. “It also provides an alternative to burning – we definitely want to reduce the number of material that is burned as a method of disposal.”
For those who cannot make the roundup days, Koole said RVC provides a free drop-off program year-round at the County’s transfer sites, which are located in Bragg Creek, Langdon, Irricana and Airdrie. The sites are open Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Scott Strasser, AirdrieToday.com
Follow me on Twitter @scottstrasser19
