The latest utility bill from Saanich arrived in the mail on Friday, and it was almost $55 more than the last bill. How could that be when it’s winter and we’re not watering the garden?
After a moment of shock, I read the IMPORTANT INFORMATION and an accompanying yellow slip. In addition to water and sewer charges, garbage collection is now on the utility bill instead of the property tax bill.
It’s all part of the switchover to a new system to collect garbage and kitchen scraps separately, so that fewer recyclables end up in the landfill. Saanich households should have received two rolling bins by now, one for garbage, one for kitchen scraps and yard trimmings, but they’re not supposed to be used until the first collection day in April.
At our place, we haven’t quite settled on how we’re going to handle the kitchen scraps. Collect them in those pricey compostable bags sold in stores? (Only compostable bags are allowed in the kitchen scraps bin.) Fold bags of our own using newspaper? Use paper bags from the grocery store? I sense that we’re going to wing it.
We'll continue to use a backyard composting cone for fruit and vegetable trimmings, so it'll be meat and fish scraps, bones and food-soiled paper that will go into the bin. To keep things from getting smelly, we're freezing that stuff until collection day.
Saanich is sending the kitchen scraps to Fisher Road Recycling in Cobble Hill.
More details are at the Saanich website, including instructions on what can go in the bins, and how they should be placed outside your house on collection day. (One headline: Cart Placement is VERY Important.)
A particular thing that attracted my eye, highlighted in yellow: You can take your unwanted old garbage cans (made obsolete by the Saanich-provided bins) to the Saanich public works yard for recycling. But the window for doing so is very limited: March 31 to April 12, Monday to Saturday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. The garbage cans must be cleaned. Cleaned is underlined in the Saanich notice.
There is, of course, controversy about kitchen scraps collection. Here’s a story about that.
Also on the latest utility bill, the price of water has gone up.
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