The City of Vernon has observed a bit of a learning curve during the first week of its new curbside organics collection program.
After launching the program on Monday, the city says there have been a few collection delays in some neighbourhoods as residents adjust to the new service and crews learn new routes and equipment.
“We would like to thank all residents for jumping in and taking part in our new curbside organics and garbage collection program,” said Ian Adkins, Manager of roads, drainage and airport. “It has been so good to see rows of organics carts lined up, as we work together to divert waste from the landfill and move towards more sustainable waste management solutions.”
The city is reminding residents to place their bins at the curb at least one metre away from all other bins and objects, so that the automatic arm on the trucks can properly grab the bins. Otherwise, drivers have to exit the vehicle to adjust the bins, leading to collection delays.
“Every new program is going to experience growing pains and we have had some hiccups this first week,” Adkins said, adding the city is working with service provider Emterra Environmental to iron out wrinkles with the program.
Additional vehicles have been brought in temporarily to help finish all zone pickups. If necessary, Emterra will also extend its operations into this Saturday to complete the scheduled collections.
Residents are asked to continue to heed the collection calendar in their Curbside Waste Collection Guide. Residents whose waste is not picked up on their scheduled day are asked to leave the carts curbside for crews who will be returning to their area.
Some residents have reported experiencing unscheduled garbage collection. This was done in error, according to the city, and those residents are asked to continue following the schedule in the guide.
Another reminder: household organics (kitchen and yard waste) are now being collected weekly, while garbage will be collected every second week.
For more information on the service, visit vernon.ca/organics. Further questions can be directed to Emterra’s customer care team at 1-888-609-2645 or by email at customercare.vernon@emterra.ca.
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