Eco360 graphic showing blue, green & clear bags

Sackville residents will be required to switch to a three-bag garbage system later this month using blue bags for recyclable items, green ones for compostable waste and clear bags for everything else including glass.

Under the new system, green bags containing such items as rotting food, used tissues and coffee grounds will be collected every week, while the blue recycling bags and the clear bags for other garbage will be picked up on alternate weeks. The three-bag collection system will start during the week of Monday, October 24 to Friday, October 28.

At its meeting last night, Town Council gave first reading to a new bylaw to implement the changes. The bylaw is expected to receive third and final reading at council’s next meeting on October 11th.

The three-bag system was devised earlier this year by Southeast eco360, the new name for the solid waste division of the Southeast Regional Service Commission. In a statement on its website, the commission explains the new system is designed to make sorting easier and to separate recyclable and compostable materials from other garbage that will go to the landfill.

The statement quotes interim commission chairman, Jacques LeBlanc, as saying that the three-bag system is more “intuitive” than the blue/green one.

“With a two-bag system, there has been some confusion around those materials that we know are not compostable or recyclable, and finding the right bag for them,” LeBlanc said.

“With the 3rd bag system, we will be asking residents to simply do their best to put recyclable items in a blue bag, organic material in a green bag, and everything else in the 3rd bag…If they are not sure, the material can be placed in the 3rd bag. We are just asking people to do their best.”

For full details on what goes in each bag, click here.

To find out your collection schedule, click here and type in your address.