With people spending more time indoors during the winter months, you would think residents would be collecting more garbage. If that is the case, why does the city have bi-weekly garbage pick-up?  

Currently, the city has weekly garbage pick-up from June to October and bi-weekly pick-up from November to May.  

According to city statistics, the most garbage collected is during the months of May, June, July and October.  

On average from 2018 to 2020, 63 kg of garbage was collected in May per household, 88.5 kg in June and 78.5 kg in July. This compares to 38.1 kg per household in December, 43.9 kg in January and 31.1 kg in February.  

“We see the volume of waste that's coming out of households in these colder winter months is much lower and so the need for weekly service really isn't there. It's a waste of money, it's a waste of resources and I guess really, it's not good for the environment,” said director of public works Darrin Stephanson.  

If your bin is overflowing during the winter months, Stephanson recommends you look at your habits and be more diligent in recycling and diverting waste that doesn’t need to go to the landfill.  

In 2020, 1.35 million kg of recycling was diverted away from the landfill. Meanwhile, one million kg of recycling was sent to the landfill and 900 kg of other divertible material.  

“On average, we're still seeing about a quarter of what's in those green bins is material that doesn't belong there,” Stephanson said.   

“It's stuff that could be put into the recycling stream or go to, you know, places like SARCAN, any of the donation outlets around the city, Salvation Army, et cetera, or the bins that are around town. You can deposit metal for free at the landfill. You can also do that with the business in town.”  

Another option for organic material is composting. While there isn’t a dedicated area for composting at the current landfill, Stephanson is hopeful there will be a composting area when Moose Jaw gets a new landfill in the coming years.  

For those wanting to compost at home, bins are available through the City of Moose Jaw. The city sells subsidized composting bins for $25. Anyone interested in purchasing composting bins can do so by contacting the Public Works and Utilities Department at 306-694-4448.  

You can get more information about garbage and recycling by visiting the City of Moose Jaw’s website.