Slave Lake Town Council is reviewing the garbage collection system, and it looks as if changes are on the way. Specifically, residents could see a bag limit for weekly garbage pick-up, as well as a requirement for garbage to be put out in solid containers, rather than bags.
At council’s Mar. 2, meeting, Mayor Ray Stern opened the discussion by saying maybe it’s time the Town did something about the problem.
“We’ve all seen the garbage strewn around,” after ravens rip up the bags, he said. “Is the time here for containers?”
Council heard that many other communities require garbage to be put out at curbside on collection day in raven-proof containers, and that it works fairly well. They also heard that other communities place a limit on the number of bags or containers that will be picked up for the basic fee. Anything over the limit is not picked up unless it has a certain sticker on it, and the stickers cost money. It’s meant to encourage waste reduction through recycling, which the Town apparently wants to do.
There’s plenty of room for improvement in recycling. In a recent newsletter, the Lesser Slave Lake Recycling Program reported that the new regional landfill might only last 60 years instead of 100 years. Why? Because the landfill took in 13,000 tonnes of waste in its first three years of operation. Estimates were for 7,000 to 8,000 tonnes in that period.
The recycling program in its first year made a dent in the volume to the landfill, but not a very big one. Slave Lakers dropped off 192 tonnes of recyclable material at the blue bins and it could be much higher.
Ironically, reducing waste to the landfill might create other problems, ones that council is bound to consider, Stern said.
“If we reduce volume, we increase the unit cost. Are we creating a fiscal nightmare?”
Council also discussed the possibility of requiring garbage to be stored out of sight of the street until pick-up day.
Operations Manager Allan Anderson said there are examples around town of permanent front-yard storage bins are falling apart, and into which some residents toss bits and pieces of garbage that take a long time to clean up. Council seemed to favour the idea of getting rid of those.
Introducing bag (or container) limits for household garbage may induce more recycling. In its discussions, council acknowledged potential drawbacks to such a program. For example it might provoke more illegal dumping; it might create a problem with empty bins blowing around the streets on windy days; it might just be disobeyed, adding another difficult enforcement item to an already long list for Slave Lake’s by-law enforcement officer.
Notwithstanding the potential difficulties, some councillors seemed eager to get on with it.
“We’ve been talking about this for a year-and-a-half,” said Coun. Valerie Tradewell. “Let’s implement a two-can limit by July 1.”
Council didn’t make a decision, but will discuss the matter further at the regular meeting of council on Mar. 16. It may not happen then, but a new policy is likely a matter of months away.
As Mayor Stern put it, “We want to move from a frontier mentality to a modern urban mentality.”
Council also discussed the pros and cons of a municipal composting program to further reduce waste to the landfill, and to improve the chances for success of the tag-a-bag program.

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