Residents in West Bench and Sage Mesa will get to keep their unlimited bi-weekly yard waste pickups despite the new curbside collection contract.
The Regional District of Okanagan Similkameen's Solid Waste Division sent out an email at the end of April to residents in those communities who had signed up for an second yard waste cart for an extra $5 a month once the new contract takes effect in June alerting them to the change.
The email offered to take that extra $5 off, but in exchange households would be required to return any serial numbers and stickers the RDOS provided.
How much the unlimited pick-ups will cost residents was not immediately available.
In a response to questions, the RDOS stated that unlimited collection events do increase the cost, but not by how much.
"The number of unlimited yard waste events was decided by each Area’s annual yard waste output data, feedback from residents, and each Area Director’s decision to balance suitable service levels, while keeping costs reasonable," the RDOS said.
The increased cost will be added to the curbside collection service fees, which had been set to rise from $154.83 to $382.94 for the entire Electoral Area under the new contract, including areas not covered by the unlimited collection such as Faulder.
The unlimited pick-up is limited specifically to West Bench and Sage Mesa, and not including Red Wing, which will have the two unlimited pick-ups in the spring and two in the fall as the rest of the RDOS.
The change away from unlimited yard waste was in part due to the new contract with Waste Connections Canada which will use fully automated trucks that are unable to pick up leaf bags.
