If you live in Coquitlam and have been able to get some yard work done before the frost, you still have one more week to take advantage of a free collection initiative.
The fall edition of the city's seasonal unlimited yard trimmings program is ending on Thursday (Nov. 24).
It allows local homeowners who receive regular garbage and green cart collection to leave out as much yard materials as they like for workers to dispose of properly.
This includes leaves, grass, grass clippings and other yard trimmings, and will mark the end of the six-week biannual campaign.
"Since the program started, the amount of yard waste material collected has doubled to almost 550 tonnes per year," said Shannon Hadley, Coquitlam solid waste and special projects manager, in a release today (Nov. 18).
"All of the collected material is brought to the city’s green waste processing contractor, Net Zero, and along with Green Cart material, is turned into compost that can be used for gardens and lawns."
Property owners are asked to put extra yard trimmings outside as early as 5:30 a.m. on their next regularly scheduled day for green cart pickup, or possibly be subject to a fine under the city's solid waste management bylaw.
Instructions to do so by the City of Coquitlam are as follows:
- Use garbage cans labelled with "yard trimmings" stickers or kraft paper bags
- Stickers are free and available for pick up from the engineering front counter at Coquitlam city hall or from the City Centre and Poirier Public Libraries
- Bundle and tie branches less than 7.5 cm (three inches) in diameter and no more than one metre (three feet) in length
The materials are set to be collected by a separate truck as late as 7:30 p.m., most likely after green carts are emptied by another vehicle.
Other rules local homeowners must follow with the program include:
- Placing all food scraps in your city-issued green cart only
- Food scraps can not be placed in kraft bags or in labelled yard trimmings cans
- Each bag, can or bundle of extra yard trimmings must weigh less than 20 kg (44 pounds)
- Yard trimmings must not block vehicle traffic, and should not block sidewalks, wherever possible
- Sod, rocks, soil and plastic bags are not accepted in the seasonal collection program or the green cart
For more information, you can visit the initiative's page on the City of Coquitlam website.
The next unlimited yard trimmings program is likely to return in spring 2023.
