The RDN is waiving tipping fees to allow residents of the Regional District, including municipal areas, to clear a backlog of holiday garbage and recycling. (File Photo/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

CLEAN UP

Free garbage & recycling drop-offs offered for mid-Island residents affected by pickup delays

Jan 5, 2022 | 6:00 PM

NANAIMO — Slick roads and another sizeable snowfall in the forecast is continuing to cause chaos for local garbage collections.

Many trucks have been sidelined since Christmas Eve with heavy snow, then icy roads making many side streets impassable.

Larry Gardner, solid waste manager with the RDN, told NanaimoNewsNOW they’re offering free drop-offs at two facilities for affected residents of the Regional District, including municipal areas such as Nanaimo, Parksville and Qualicum Beach.

“The more it accumulates, the longer it takes to catch up but it’s really to provide the residents an opportunity [to get rid of items]. We know a lot are challenges on where they put the material.”

Parksville’s Church Rd. transfer station and Cedar’s regional landfill are open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., seven days a week and will waive tipping fees for holiday garbage and recycling.

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Those dropping off items will be asked for ID and proof of address at the facility so the RDN can track who is dropping off waste.

The complementary drop-offs will continue until regular service can be re-established.

Gabriola Island residents have had a temporary facility set up on Church St. past the ambulance station which will operate to at least Friday, Jan. 7 from 9 a.m. to 12 p.m. with the RDN looking at further days next week.

Recycling can be taken to GIRO on Tin Can Alley on Wednesday’s and Saturday’s from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Gardner said the drop-offs are designed to get rid of accumulations from missed pickups over Christmas, not for massive clean outs of long-term waste.

“We understand people might take it for their neighbours, so they might be bringing more than their couple of bags…we’re fairly flexible on that but if people are being reasonable on what they’re bringing in and it appears to be what we’d expect from residential curbside, it’s all good.”

Accepted materials are both the Parksville transfer station and the Cedar landfill with tipping fees waived for household garbage and recycling until regular pick up service can be resumed. (RDN)

At home collections continue to be slow going, however Gardner said they made good progress through areas of Lantzville on Wednesday, Jan. 5.

Road conditions have not made life easy for workers, with at least one garbage truck nearly ending up in a ditch on Tuesday, Jan. 4.

“This kind of ongoing cold with snows in between and the roads just being in poor condition, this is unprecedented for me for sure,” Gardner said on the difficulty with collections.

The RDN’s scheduled pickup order remains and will continue to be pushed back as long as the weather dictates.

Residents should put their bins out by 8 a.m. on their collection day and return them after 5 p.m. If the contents aren’t collected, they can return the to the road the following day.

More information on curbside pickup in the RDN is available on their website.

The RDN’s schedule which they are attempting to stick to, however have had difficulties achieving due to weather and road conditions. (RDN)

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