Residents frustrated by partial pickup of garbage, green tags by city

During the first weeks of bi-weekly garbage pickup complaints from households caused

Coun. Dawn Luhning to make an enquiry.

Some residents were concerned their garbage was tagged and not picked up, she said.

A reply to her enquiry from City Engineer Josh Mickleborough indicates details of past enforcement of tagging garbage bags is unknown.

Collectors can tag bags with five reasons for not collecting.

During the transition weeks in October, he said, the new schedule was managed by taking bagged wastes and leaving bagged leaves, notifying residents that the remaining bags would be picked up eventually, and directing residents to use the free landfill in the first two weeks of October.

“It is important that residents take ownership for responsibly managing their solid waste,” wrote Mickleborough.

One northwest area resident was upset when the first bi-weekly pickup took two bags of household waste and tagged two bags of leaves as “excessive amount of waste” over 200 pounds.

Neither bag weighed more than 25 pounds.

The householder contacted a councillor, who suggested first calling city hall. The householder, too hot under the collar to be polite, deferred the call. but was even more upset when his neighbor informed him that his bags were picked up, leaves and all.

The householder decided to wait two weeks until the next pickup. A seemingly reluctant crew looked at the bags for a while before picking them up.

The neighbour complained that on the second pickup some of his bags of waste were tagged and left. Frustrated, he took his bags to the landfill, paid for disposal and muttered about a new mayor and council.

Ron Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net