Coaldale composting to begin in March

The Town of Coaldale’s new composting component to municipal waste removal will go into effect in March.

During their regular meeting on Tuesday, council heard from Cindy L’Hirondelle, Coaldale’s Development and Environmental Services Manager, regarding the results of a recent request for proposal to supply the town with enough bins.

A single company, IPL Environmental, submitted a tender to provide individual residences with 240-litre bins between Feb. 12 and 23. Pickups would then begin on March 5.

L’Hirondelle said the company is the same one which has provided bins to the community in the past.

According to a letter of understanding provided in the council agenda package, the green bins will include a sevenlitre “kitchen catcher” which can be used to transfer organic waste such as food scraps to the bin.

The estimated cost for 3,000 carts plus kitchen catchers, as well as assembly and delivery of the bins and barcode marking and RFID tracking technology comes to an estimated cost of $175,350. The bins will be marked to identify them as Town of Coaldale bins.

The offer was deemed within budget and within an acceptable time frame, despite some previous concerns a winter start might reduce the usage of the program. The cost of the bins will be attached to the 2018 budget.