City needs to contract garbage pickup

Dear Editor:

One hears many complaints with regards to City of Lethbridge Waste and Recycling Services.

Our small family (two of us) can easily fill our garbage bin in two weeks. I have no idea how a larger family handles wastes generated over that period. The City used to provide garbage pick-up weekly which is the minimum service Lethbridge residents should expect.

We have a home in Sun City, Arizona. Recycling is once every two weeks (same as the City of Lethbridge) and you can put out as much recycling as you have. Garbage pick-up is twice weekly with unique underground outside receptacles in each front yard. You can put out as much garbage as you like.

The service is provided by Sun City through a private contractor by the name of Parks & Sons. The amount we pay to Parks & Sons is $30 U.S. funds per month and they provide great service. So after currency exchange, we would pay $38.50 Canadian per month. Now remember, Sun City residents receive four garbage pick-ups for every one the City Of Lethbridge provides.

The amount we pay to the City of Lethbridge is $28.44 for waste and recycling plus a portion of their “administration fees” which totals approximately $30.64. So for $8 more we get four times as many garbage pick-ups! In addition, we can put out as much garbage as we like for pick-up. Working this backwards and utilizing the waste collection rates provided on the City of Lethbridge website, if we had the same service here as we do in Sun City, we’d be paying $93.97 per month and still be restricted on the amounts of garbage and recycling one can put out to the curb. That’s 244 per cent more!

Maybe it’s time for the City to contract out this service and probably a whole bunch of others. Something is very smelly here and it’s not the garbage bin in my garage after two weeks in the summer!

Bart Davies

Lethbridge, Alberta