How is everyone liking their new big bins for garbage, recycling, and garden waste/organics?
The new waste pick up program came into Surrey on October 1, 2012. Garden waste/organics (green lid) is picked up every week. The garbage (black lid) and recycling (blue bin) are picked up every other week, alternating with each other.
Friday is collection day in Cloverdale. The first time I saw the truck picking up the blue lid recycle bins for some strange reason he backed down our street. That meant the driver had to run out for all the houses on our side of the street, drag the recycle bin over to the truck, and then unload it. Then when the forks unloaded the bin it was now on the other side of the street. Instead of jumping out of the truck again and putting the bin back where he found it, the driver proceeded backing down the road. I happened to be at home at the time and figured it out pretty quick when I went outside to haul my bin back in and it wasn't in my driveway but my neighbour across the street now had two recycle bins: one in his driveway and one in his front yard. That's the only time I've seen any of the waste trucks back down our street.
On October 19th was Cloverdale's day for garbage pick up. A pick up that never came for our entire neighbourhood. I've seen the waste trucks working until at least 7pm on some occasions so we left out garbage bin out until around 9pm before dragging it back to the house. Then I put it back out in the morning hoping the truck was late in the Friday pick ups, couldn't finish his route, and would be back on Saturday. On Saturday morning I saw a Surrey Engineering Dept truck slowing cruising our neighbourhood and talking into his radio or phone. There must have been complaints coming in from Cloverdale about missed pick up or else the Engineering staff were in our area and noticed all the garbage bins still out and checked it out and then got after the waste company. The garbage was picked up later on Saturday. However some residents took their garbage in off the street and didn't put it out again and missed the Saturday pick up.
On November 2, 2012 for some reason the garbage truck didn't pick up any of the garbage bins on 173 Street between 57th and 58th Avenues. All the other streets in the neighbourhood were picked up. The driver forgot the one street. And the garbage bins stayed out. No pick up Saturday. Finally the garbage truck picked up those bins today, Tuesday, November 6.
If there is a problem and the bin is not picked up, the number to call is 604-590-7289. The problem is this number is only for Monday to Friday, 8am to 4pm. By the time someone comes home from work and sees the bin still sitting there its too late to call. That number is at City Hall and no one works on weekends. This doesn't help Cloverdale residents who have to wait until Monday to call to complain about the missed pick up.
There's a list of reasons why someone's bin was not picked up and most of the reasons suggest the homeowner is to blame: didn't put bin out on time, didn't set up bin properly (too close to cars, trees, or other bins), banned items in the bin. Though for that one I don't know how they'd know because the lid is closed and the driver doesn't normally get out of his truck to operate the forks that grab the bins.
I downloaded the My-Waste app for my iPhone with a 12 hour reminder and it tells me which bin goes out that day. If you go to this link, you can either download a collection calendar or follow the link to the app. http://www.surrey.ca/rethinkwaste/collection-schedule/
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