(Image: City of Saint John)
Saint John’s Waste Wise pilot program providing curbside recycling pickup has kicked off in two neighbourhoods.
The city will test the program with just over 1,000 residents in the Rockwood and Lattimore Lake areas for at least two months, before bringing results to council later this year.
Residents of the neighbourhoods taking part in the pilot project were given one 180 litre cart for waste, a green bin for plastic and metal and a blue bin with a lid for paper, cardboard, and boxboard.
The three bins are to be left out in the usual waste pickup location. Any bags with waste that don’t fit in the 180 litre cart will need to be marked with a ‘bag tag.’
Eight tags were provided for each household participating in the pilot, but they will cost residents $2 extra per tag once the project is implemented.
The project is now through its first pickup cycle in both areas, and the city estimates around 40 per cent resident participation.
Jeff Hussey, the city’s Director of Public Works, says they expected a lower turnout to begin, especially due to the full kits not being handed out until partway through the garbage cycle.
“We weren’t expecting people to go back and dig through their garbage and pull out recycling and compost and things of that sort,” Hussey said. “So we’re hoping to see increased numbers moving forward through the pilot.”
Eight days into the project, the city estimated around 40 per cent of Rockwood-area residents had utilized the new bins, with 26 per cent putting out extra bags of waste for the first pickup. In Lattimore Lake, just 29 per cent used the recycling bins, while 34 per cent had extra bagged waste.
Hussey says they expect between 50 and 70 per cent compliance rate by the end of the project.
“At the end of the day, we can’t force anybody to compost or recycle or divert their waste, but we encourage them and we want to educate them along the way to do the right thing,” he said.
Earlier this year, Common Council members expressed some concerns about the bag tag system potentially leading to increased illegal dumping.
Hussey has confidence that they’re providing enough options for residents to participate in the program without needing to overspend on the $2 tags.
“If people take advantage of the different programs the city has in place the chance of having to utilize the bag tags should be slim.”
