Residents in Regina’s Downtown Core are frustrated by the state of recycling bins in the area.
The blue bins are overflowing with garbage, not recyclables, and because of that, they’re not being picked up.
“I recycle as best as I can and I separate the trash with recycling, but it all gets mixed up with people going through them because they go through the trash and they put it in the recycling bin and vice-versa, so it’s really a sort of a defeatist project in my opinion,” said Mariel Harvey, who lives in the area.
The City of Regina encourages residents to move their bins out onto the street only on collection day to avoid bottle pickers from digging through them and possibly mixing the garbage with the recycling. They are also suggesting that residents put bottles in a separate bag beside the bin.
“The bins, if they’re put out on collection day, will be collected, even if they have waste in them,” said Janet Aird, Manager of Program and Development with the City of Regina. “They will either be picked up and taken to the recycling facility and processed – the waste does get sorted out of them. If they are too full with garbage, the driver can make a call to get a city truck to come out and get it and they would take it to the landfill.”
If you find that your bin is constantly filling up before collection day, the City encourages neighbours to work together to avoid overfilling a container or you can contact the City for an additional bin.
“If you do need an extra bag of garbage to be put out, you could ask your neighbour if you could use some their space and put it in their garbage can, that is allowable,” added Aird.
A full list of items acceptable for the blue recycling bins is available on the City of Regina’s website.
