By Gagandeep Ghuman
Published: July 28, 2012
District of Squamish is going high-tech to help residents remember when to put out garbage or recycling totes.
The District has teamed up with ReCollect to offer an electronic reminder of when to put out your Garbage or the Recycling totes.
Residents search for their address to find a personalised service schedule. They can set up a weekly reminder, by email, text, or by phone.
Each week, they get a notification reminding them about the services.
The capital projects manager, Rod McLeod said the email option is free, but there is a small fee for other methods.
To receive an email, all the resident has to do is click on the widget, enter the address, their email, or even the email of the person who you would like to take out the tote.
The reminders can also extend to changes in service, municipal events, public consultations, or anything else the district wants to highlight.
The recollect widget works in all browsers, and is available in English, French, or a language of the resident’s choice.
Born out of the Open Data movement in Vancouver and inspired by the Government, Reconnect says its vision is to re-imagine government services in a way that are citizen-centric, affordable, and easy to use for both city staff and residents
Meanwhile, the district will also launch a pilot project in August in Garibaldi Highlands to collect yard waste.
In June, Rod MacLeod, told the council a group of university students had found that 12 per cent of all material they found in a garbage truck was yard waste.
At least half of that was compostable, MacLeod told the council.
In 2011, the Squamish residents put out 18, 095 tonnes of waste out to the curb for collection. Out of that, 6,360 tonnes was recycled and 11,735 tonnes was buried in the landfill.
Staff estimates a residential yard waste collection program will divert at least another 600 tonnes of waste material from the landfill.
