Garbage pickup moves to biweekly for winter

Starting Monday, Regina’s curbside garbage collection changes from every week to every other week until spring.

By switching to biweekly garbage collection for the winter, the city believes it is encouraging residents to reduce, reuse and recycle. People can sign up for phone, text or voice mail reminders, or view a personalized collection calendar.

Garbage collection days and the recycling collection schedule remain the same. Weekly collection will fully return April 3, but residents will have temporary weekly pickups between Dec. 23 and Jan. 3, 2020.

The city reminds residents of four easy steps for proper use of garbage carts: Fill it — bag or bundle all waste items; keep cart lids closed; don’t put additional waste beside the cart; place it — carts should be rolled out to the curb or alley by 7:30 a.m. on collection day; space it — leave at least one metre around the cart for collection trucks to properly empty it; store it — roll the empty cart back to a secure location on one’s property.

City council voted in favour of the move to biweekly winter garbage collection back in September 2017, in a bid to trim $132,000 from its budget. According to the city, volumes of waste per household drop by 34 per cent in the winter.

Also, starting Nov. 3, the city’s landfill will be closed on Sundays, as well as Christmas Day and New Year’s Day as it shifts to the winter schedule. Winter hours are 7 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday to Saturday. Entry gates close 15 minutes prior to closing to allow vehicles to unload and exit the landfill by closing time.

And the free yard waste depot site, located adjacent to the landfill, will be open this Sunday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. to allow residents to drop off their yard waste before winter.