Chestermere and area residents will soon have access to an improved recycling facility, as the Town expanding and moving its bins to a new site.
Effective Sept. 1, recycling bins located in the parking lots of the Chestermere Bottle Depot as well as Gas Plus will be removed and residents will take their recyclables to the public works yard.
“(Recycling) is currently in a parking lot, and it is too small,” said Donna McCallum, Chestermere’s assistant director of public works. “In the public works yard, we can fit more bins and take more things.”
The new site will be open Monday to Fridays from 7 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and on Saturdays from 7 a.m. to noon and from 1 to 3 p.m.
Accepted items include cardboard, mixed paper, newspaper, number one through seven plastics, computer equipment, televisions, paint, and organic yard waste such as grass clippings, leaves, flowers and branches.
The site will not accept dirt, sod, glass or Styrofoam.
McCallum said the new facility, which has garnered positive public feedback, will be neater and more convenient as it centralizes bins, currently spread around town, into one improved facility.
Because it will be manned and out in the open, it will likely cut down on the amount of garbage, which is now dumped beside the bins in the bottle depot parking lot, according to McCallum.
She said that future plans include the possibility of accepting other waste such as chemicals and tires.
“We have significant (recycling),” said McCallum. “People are recycling, they are using it, so I am just trying to make it more convenient. I am trying to make it a one-stop facility.”
McCallum said she is especially impressed with the amount of grass clippings being recycled, and added the composted materials are being used in the Town’s parks and planters.
Town of Chestermere residents are limited to four bags of garbage, with a weight not to exceed 55 pounds per bag.
Council approved a change to the bylaw, Aug. 22, which limits the size of waste receptacles to a maximum of 124 litres.
For more information on the new facility, visit www.chestermere.ca or contact the public works office at 403-207-2807.
