Terri Huxley
The Drumheller Mail
With spring in the air so is Spring Cleanup for the Valley.
Tammi Nygaard, operations manager for the Drumheller and District Solid Waste Management Association, gave an overview as to how this year’s cleanup will be conducted.
Crews are expected to begin Monday, April 30 in East Coulee, Cambria, Lehigh, Starmine and Highway 10 residents to Rosedale and it will end on Thursday, May 10 in Riverside Drive between 5th Street East and Willow Estates. To see full dates and map, check out page 15.
“We haven’t changed any of the areas, we haven’t changed any of the collection routes or anything like that so everything is remaining the same as in previous years,” said Nygaard.
Friday, May 11 is what the waste team calls a ‘floater’ day.
“So that’s the day we use if something gets missed or if we need to go back or if there is some tidying up to do,” said Nygaard.
Acceptable items to give are propane cylinders, lead car batteries, tires and rims, and white metals.
“We would really appreciate people to separate out all of their propane tanks, their car batteries, their tires, white metals like washers and dryers and stoves, old paint, electronics, so that’s televisions and computers,” explained Nygaard.
All freon appliances like refrigerators, freezers and air conditioners have a $15 fee for collection. Residents that have these specific items must pay the fee two days prior at Town Hall in exchange for a sticker that will notify staff the bill has been paid. If forgotten, residents can pay at the door when collection staff comes around.
“Now what they will do if they find the fridge doesn’t have a sticker on it, they will go and knock on the person’s door and if they are home they will talk to them but lots of times they are not, they are off at work or wherever. If you can contact them and want to pay right away then they can and will take it right then,” she said. “So that’s available to them as well.”
All material must be placed on the ground in the regular garbage disposal area by 7 a.m. the day of pick-up in your area and it should not exceed the volume a single half tonne truck worth of acceptable material.
“So if you got a back alley pickup, put it in the back alley where your garbage goes. If it’s in a frontal pickup then put it in the front,” said Nygaard.
The Drumheller & District Regional Landfill is open to anyone that has items to drop off free of charge. The amnesty period has already begun taking place from Monday, April 23 to Friday, May 11.
The manager is asking residents to keep the flow of the spring cleanup smooth by making sure everything is kept in an orderly fashion by the time the crew arrives.
“We had a real issue with leaves in the past, especially in East Coulee where they just pile them up loose and then it takes forever for us to pick it up so we ask that they please bag their leaves and then it’s easier for us to collect. We only have so much time allotted for each area and we try to get that area done during that day,” said Nygaard.
Residents are encouraged to recycle their cardboard as the crew will not have time to recycle it themselves.
Hazardous chemicals, demolition or building material from renovations, commercial or trade wastes are not accepted.
For more information call the Drumheller and District Regional Landfill at 403-823-1345.
