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Cranbrook, BC (November 9, 2021) – An impressive 252 tonnes of recyclable materials have been collected from over 6,236 households in Cranbrook since the new curbside recycling program began on May 3, 2021.

During that time, the City’s contractor GFL has picked up 44,376 recycling carts worth of material diverting hundreds of tonnes of refuse from our landfill.

“The community has really embraced and is strongly supporting this new service. I am very happy to see the success we’re having with curbside recycling for our residents,” says Mayor Lee Pratt. “I want to again thank our staff for all their hard work and thank the RDEK and RecycleBC for working closely with us funding the purchase of the recycling carts, and special thanks to RecycleBC for funding the majority of the collection fees.”

The average contamination rate in our recycling collection stream sits about 6.5% with the program striving for a 3% contamination rate.  The slightly higher rate is due to several common not accepted recyclable materials continuing to be left in curbside recycling bins. These are items like hard and soft cover books, flexible packaging (like chip bags), materials with food residue (like pizza boxes), scrap metal and glass.

“RecycleBC routinely completes random audits on the recycling materials collected from our curbside recycling program,” says Katelyn Pocha, Water & Wastewater Project Manager with the City. “A sample of the daily curbside collection recycling material is collected, and that material is categorized and weighed to determine the contamination rate.”

Materials like glass, plastic bags, plastic overwrap, other flexible plastic packaging and foam packaging are all recyclable but must be dropped off at the RecycleBC Depot at the Cranbrook Transfer Station – not left in your curbside recycling carts.

“We still have some work to do, but the community really has done a great job at placing appropriate materials in their curbside recycling carts, and I want to thank them for that,” Pocha adds.

If you haven’t already, sign up for garbage and curbside recycling reminders to get notifications about your weekly pickups right to your email or smartphone and never miss another collection day. Sign up at https://cranbrook.ca/recycling. You can also find more details about the recycling program including pickup schedules, cart information and proper cart placement, acceptable materials, a ‘What Goes Where’ guide and a series of frequently asked questions.