OLDS — Town officials are hoping next year to run a provincial recycling program they piloted last month.
They have some ideas on how to make it better.
They're also aware that that Olds may not be one of the sites chosen next time around, because other communities may get the nod instead.
"Olds is always interested in providing a service that will assist the residents, however we may have to wait if the demand is high,” a town email says.
Administrative staff met Aug. 12 with representatives of the Alberta Recycling Management Authority (ARMA), the organization that created the program, including Ed Gugenheimer, its chief executive officer.
The program was scheduled to run for three days in mid-July. However, demand was so strong that it ran for an extra day. In fact, ARMA staff were in town for a total of five days.
Some ideas town officials came up with to improve the program include centralizing items in one location in town, then taking the items to the landfill in a larger vehicle.
Another idea is to have the program synchronized with the municipal garbage, recycling and compost bin collection schedule.
It was also suggested that town staff help collect items for recycling.
During an interview, Gugenheimer said overall, both the Town and his organization were pleased with how the pilot program went and the enthusiasm Olds residents showed for it.
“You know, we would do things a little differently, but both of us thought the thing was actually a pretty good success,” he said.
“If we can try this again next year, with the learnings that we’ve gotten from this one at Olds, I think my board would probably be more than happy to try it again.
“The great thing is just how much we recycled. It was just absolutely incredible, the volumes that we saw."
Gugenheimer was disappointed by the fact that while the program was underway, someone vandalized a truck belonging to local residents Tom and Donna McCullough by throwing paint on it.
“We had one bad incident, but like I said, we learned from that and I don’t think that should overshadow everything else that happened. There was a lot of good that happened,” he said.
“So yeah, we’re quite happy. Like I said, switch some things up and we might have a recipe for something amazing in the future.”
