View Royal waste collection is evolving.

After a two-year pilot compost program under the Capital Regional District wrapped up in 2008, the Town is allowing residents to continue to recycle their organic waste.

Under a contract with Waste Management of Canada Inc., residents are now provided with two bins — one for garbage and one for compost.

“It’s an incentive for people to start recycling their food waste instead of it going into the Hartland Landfill,” said Deb Becelaere, Town engineering technologist.

View Royal residents helped divert 200 tonnes of organic waste from the landfill in one year through the CRD program. That’s roughly 22 per cent of the town’s waste load.

“It’s quite exciting actually. It’s really showing an incentive to reduce waste and therefore extend the life of the Hartland Landfill,” Becelaere said. “It’s a really good contract.”

Starting last month, residents are allowed 45 kilograms of waste spread between a 80-litre garbage bin and an 80-litre compost bin. Under the last contract, residents were allowed one 77-litre container for garbage weighing more than 25 kilograms.

Some residents were provided with a 121-litre bin by the previous collection company. When the contract changed they weren’t told about the decrease in capacity, said resident Kellyann Andrews.

To highlight the difference, Andrews moves garbage bags from her new collection bin to the one she used for years.

What filled the new bin, leaves plenty of room in the old one. The smaller bins are putting unfair pressure on residents while companies continue to produce the same amount of packaging, she said.

“We are conscious about what (we throw away),” she said. “But there are certain amounts that aren’t recyclable that we use every day.”

While it may be the case that some households were using larger bins, the new contract calls for special bins designed to be automatically emptied into the collection trucks to protect the workers, Becelaere said. The former company could have been picking up the larger bins despite the Town’s bylaw, she said.

Whatever the discrepancy in the bins now, some residents have expressed concern over having to pay extra for additional bags on top of their taxes.

“Both my husband and I are retired seniors on a limited income,” said Kathy Savrtka. “All of this stuff adds up bit by bit.”

She doesn’t see the smaller bin as being a huge problem, but $3 for extra bags are a concern.

“They’re too small,” said Jim Pearson of the bins. “It sort of forces us into using a bag with a $3 sticker.”

reporter@goldstreamgazette.com