The Rural Municipality of Ritchot will be offering a new garbage collection program for residents.

In December of last year, Council awarded new garbage and recycling contracts to GFL Environmental. Mayor Chris Ewen says one of the changes is that the service provider will be using a tote system, unlike their previous provider.

"Before, everyone was putting their garbage out in the front and it could have been anything including the kitchen sink, you name it, they were putting it out front," says Ewen.

But, the new totes will have the capacity to hold 65 gallons worth of garbage. Then, rather than having employees walking around and tossing garbage bags into the truck, the totes will be emptied using an automated system. And, because of this, residents will not be allowed to pile up an infinite number of bags at the end of their driveway.

Ritchot Council has given first reading to a special services bylaw. Ewen says even with them adding totes to the urban areas, their garbage fees will actually go down in Ritchot. Under the proposed levy, a single family residential property can expect to pay about $135 in 2021, $142 in 2022, $150 in 2023 and then $159 in 2024. By comparison, that same property today is paying about $173.

"We found the service provider that could offer a superior service than the other ones that we looked through," says Ewen. "And they can also offer it significantly cheaper."

According to Ewen, the pandemic has slowed delivery of the totes, which are now expected to arrive before the first week of June.

The RM of Ritchot is also working on a spring and fall collection day (May 1st and October 2nd) to pick up all accumulated garbage. Another idea is to run a grass clipping pick up program bi-weekly from mid-April to late October for urban areas.