The town's launch of a bi-weekly garbage collection in two Okotoks communities comes as a result of data collected from prior investigations, and a response to residents who do not put their carts out weekly contacting the town looking for solutions and requesting an evaluation of the current program.

Waste collection trucks in Okotoks are equipped with software that can track information, and prior findings indicate that not everyone is putting their carts out weekly, or sorting waste into respective bins.

Waste Services Manager for the town, Paul Lyons, says after reviewing the data and contents collected, the project was developed to further efforts in waste reduction.

" The approximate break down showed that in those black bins, 45 percent of the contents could have been placed in compost, and 30 per cent of the contents could have been receycled." he said.

Lyons says the town conducted two seperate waste audits in 2017 and the communities of Mountainview and Woodhaven were chosen randomly for the pilot project.

Another goal for the project is to reach eighty per cent waste diversion as per the request of Okotoks Town Council. According to Lyons, the town is currently at a rate of sixty-one per cent.

The project is slated to begin on June 4th in Mountainview and June 6th in Woodhaven and will run until the end of September.

The pilot project came as a surprise to residents in the two communities, and Lyons says the town invites constructive dialogue and feedback from the residents.

'We want them to get in touch with us and work with us so that we can determine what the needs are for the community if we're going to meet that eighty per cent diversion by 2020." he said.

Residents are also encouraged to attend information sessions at the Municipal Center on May 24th at 1 and 6:30 pm.

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