The city’s new garbage cans are arriving and will start to be doled out to Port Alberni residents starting on Monday, city works supervisor Randy Fraser said.
The supplier who provided the carts will deliver the new 80-, 120- and 240-litre containers until Dec. 2. “We’ve been getting 20 at a time so there’s still more to come,” Fraser said.
“We’re the first city on the Island to get the auto-loading garbage pickup.”
The city is switching over to garbage pickup of the new containers by the new auto-loading trucks on Dec. 5.
“Residents won’t need their old garbage cans after that,” Fraser said.
The new garbage carts have to be placed on the roadside beside the curb, with the wheels against the curb and the lid opening towards the road, he said.
Carts that have bear-proof clips must have the clips undone, or else the garbage cannot be emptied.
Customers will be charged $98 per year, which is up from the $80 they are paying now.
Both the trucks and carts are coming from Rollins in Langley, which won both bids. The city has paid $562,000 for two automated arm trucks and another $493,000 for the garbage carts.
The supplier will deliver 6,300 new cans in front of residents’ homes. “Not in the back, just in the front,” Fraser said.
Residents who don’t receive a new can by Dec. 5 are to contact the city, which will arrange to have one delivered to them, Fraser said.
The logistics of the new system will take some time to work out and changes, such as exchanging can sizes, won’t be made until March 2012, Fraser said.
Although three can sizes are available, the 80-litre and 120-litre cans are the most popular size being delivered to residents, Fraser said.
“There’s only been a 100 or so of the 240-litres that have gone out.”
Meanwhile, city personnel have been training on the city’s two new auto-loading trucks in preparation for Dec. 5.
The trucks and cans will be on display at local retail outlets soon, Fraser added.
reporter@albernivalleynews.com
— With a file from Susan Quinn