The City of Prince George is coming up with a new Solid Waste Management Plan that looks at the possibility of moving to a bi-weekly schedule for solid waste pick up including compost service.
Bi-weekly garbage collection is quickly becoming the industry standard in many community because of successful curbside recycling and compost programs that have reduced the amount of weekly garbage.
The Regional District of Fraser-Fort George operates the Foothills Boulevard Regional Landfill and the associated waste diversion programs. However, the centralized composting operations at the landfill are limited to yard and garden waste only and food waste is currently not part of the composting operation.
To make bi-weekly curbside garbage collection viable, significant capital investment and site expansion would be required at the Foothills landfill.
“We need to adapt and change and seeing the options available to us as we go through this process is going to be what helps us do that,” said Coun. Kyle Sampson at the Monday council meeting. "Making off-the-cuff decisions won’t be valuable to council to say ‘yeah we are going to go to a bi-weekly’ unless we have a plan in place."
“I do believe a solid waste management plan should include bear safe especially in certain areas and in the fall when the bears are all over the place,” said Mayor Simon Yu.
City staff responded that a bear-safe focus could be incorporated into the plan.
City staff said that work on the Solid Waste Management Plan will begin in 2024.
