The City of Cranbrook has signed a five-year funding agreement with RecycleBC for an automated curbside recycling collection program tentatively set to start in the spring.
That agreement will provide $236,041 per year for incentives to provide a recycling collection service to residential households, according to a city press release.
That collection service will be supplied by GFL Environmental Inc., which has signed a three year contract, with an option for a renewal for two additional years.
”City staff have been working very closely with Recycle BC and now our contractor GFL to make sure that this program not only provides a great service, but also runs as smoothly as possible for all of our citizens,” said Mike Matejka, Manager of Infrastructure Planning and Delivery.
The city delayed the purchase of a mechanized garbage truck set for 2022 to align with the expiration of the initial three-year term of the contract with GFL Environmental. The city plans to study the automated curbside recycling program and see if it would be suitable for automated curbside garbage pickup as well in order to potentially combine the two programs, according to Matejka.
“We do need a year or two to understand how the recycling services work, to best understand how we can look at bringing on curbside automated garbage pickup as well to make sure that those investments are planned to be in operation or planned to be in the right manner,” said Matejka, during Monday night’s council meeting.
In the summer, council approved the agreement with Recycle BC, which would see bi-weekly automated curbside recycling pickup from mechanized trucks.
The Regional District of East Kootenay previously committed a $691,641 grant to the City of Cranbrook that will be used to purchase 6,231 specialized recycling carts, each of which will be assigned and belong to a residential property address.