The city of Coquitlam is using Waste Reduction Week to remind residents to ensure their garbage, green waste and recycling are properly separated — or they could face a fine.
About 465 warnings have already been issued this year as well as a handful of $150 tickets to residents with contaminated waste left at the curb.
“This is important for ensuring we are minimizing the amount of waste going to the landfill, which in addition to the environmental benefits also has cost savings,” said Steffanie Warriner, the city’s manager of environmental services.
She noted that tipping fees for garbage is $100 per tonne while green waste only costs the city $78 per tonne and recycling is free.
Warriner added that keeping garbage separated is also important from a bear and wildlife management perspective.
“Recyclables and food waste are picked up weekly while regular garbage, which should contain no food or recyclable waste, is picked up every two weeks,” she said, meaning bears will have less time to sniff out the organics they are attracted to.
Residents who are unsure about what waste goes in which bin can download the city’s ReCollect App or go to www.coquitlam.ca/curbsidecollection to see the Waste Wizard online tool, which allows people to type in the name of an item to determine which bin it belongs in.
Green carts are used for all kitchen scraps, food-soiled paper and yard trimmings while the blue recycling box and yellow bag are for mixed containers, cardboard and paper. The garbage cart should be used for anything that is non-hazardous and cannot be composted or recycled.
• For more information, go to www.coquitlam.ca/recycling or www.coquitlam.ca/yardtrimmings.
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