Cochrane residents’ opinions are mixed on a proposal by the Town of Cochrane to change residential garbage pickup to biweekly instead of weekly.
While the town will not release full details of the shift until after council’s Nov. 14 meeting, which is part of the 2018 budget deliberations, it said the goal is to reduce waste.
Jessica Hindles, a mother of three, is among those opposed.
She said her family’s waste production is quite modest, but picking up biweekly would be an inconvenience that would not result in a reduction of her household waste.
The family produces only half of a black garbage bag per week compared to a full bin of recycling, however all of her children are in diapers.
“The smell of three kids in dirty diapers — it really gets pretty rank smelling,” she said. “For us, we don’t have a lot of waste really, just the fact that it smells really bad after a week.”
Carrie Robinson rents a room from her older son and said she thinks the town should compromise to accommodate homes with a large amount of waste.
“They better give bigger bins because everyone’s is so full after a week because of the size of bin,” Robinson said.
Lynda Sweet, who lives in a household of two, seconds the notion of bigger bins for the sake of larger families.
“I don’t think that would be a big issue for us because if [the bin] is not full, I don’t put it out anyways,” Sweet said. “But, if I was a family of four, it might be a totally different story.”
Meanwhile, Alex Wolfe, who recently moved to Cochrane from Saskatchewan and lives with a friend, said he wouldn’t need to change his habits much.
“I don’t go through as much garbage as some might — it takes a while to fill our bin up,” Wolfe said. “If it went to biweekly, I wouldn’t have a problem with it.”
Jay Hamilton, a Cochrane resident for more than two years, said he thinks it’s the best option for the town, even if it doesn’t appease everyone.
“It’s hard to implement a one-size-fits-all solution, but unless they have a way of charging by weight, this is the reality,” Hamilton said.
“I think the town’s doing a good job of making it pretty easy to keep our costs and ecological footprint under control.”
