This year's crop of Halloween jack-o-lanterns can be disposed of in city yard waste carts, the solid waste utility said Wednesday.--News photo
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Once again the city’s solid waste department is encouraging residents to dispose of jack-o-lanterns in their yard waste bin, but tossing inedible veggies in the green bins could become more common in the future.
The summer service accepts most organic garden produce ± tree and vegetable matter – and will operate this season until the end on Nov. 17, barring a substantial change in the weather.
City council will hear on Nov. 6 a plan to approve a food waste pilot program as a key component of waste diversion plan for the city’s solid waste utility. It would see 100 families volunteer to take part before a city-wide rollout is considered.
This year, administrators tell the News they expect most of the fall leaves and other yard waste has been received at this point, and don’t expect a large change in tonnage recorded at Oct. 31.
For the year, the program collected 4,100 tonnes of material that has been diverted from being buried and is being composted at a separate facility at the landfill. That compost is sold by the bag at the landfill, while carbon credits earned under the Alberta TIER system are sold to the city’s power plant.
The current tonnage is a slight improvement over 2022, when just less than 4,000 tonnes was collected, but about 200 tonnes less than 2021. The difference is attributed to dry weather conditions in the different growing seasons.
About 70 per cent of residential accounts in Medicine Hat have a yard bin. About 330 new carts were requested this year.
