Town of Taber
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Engineering & Public Works
- To report a problem with your road or sidewalk, please contact Engineering & Public Works at 403-223-6018.
Who do I call if I have a problem with water, wastewater (sewer), or stormwater service (not including utility account setup or billing information)?
For problems with water, wastewater, or stormwater, please contact us at 403-223-5501. If this is an emergency, please contact our 24-hour emergency number at 403-634-8668.- If you have an emergency that requires Public Works' attention after our regular business hours, please contact our on-call cell number at 403-330-9384.
Garbage and Recycling Initiative
- For the Brown (Residual Waste) Cart, you MUST bag your garbage. Blue (Recyclable) Carts do not need to have items bagged. Green Carts (Compostables) and the Kitchen Catcher do not need bags, but if you would prefer to bag or line your compostable material, the bag/lining must fit into the below specifications:
1) The bag MUST be labelled COMPOSTABLE, not biodegradable. Only COMPOSTABLE bags that clearly have the Biodegradable Products Institute (BPI) and US Composting Council (USCC) logo are admissible. Local stores in the Town of Taber do sell these types of bags.
2) You may also line your Green Cart with paper towels or paper bags. - Whichever system you used before the carts, that's the system you will continue to use! If you originally put your garbage in the alley, put your new carts in the alley! If you used front-curb pickup for your garbage, your new carts should go on the front curb as well!
- Each household will receive 3 carts and 1 kitchen catcher. The three carts will be Blue (Recycling), Green (Compost), and Brown (Garbage), and the kitchen catcher is a small container to store compostables.
- Businesses and Commercial residents will remain using their existing system. A new plan will be coming soon!
- People in apartments will continue using the bin system. A plan for apartments will be coming soon.
- Please leave your carts at the residence. Each cart has a serial number which is linked to the property address. If you are building a new house, we will deliver new carts to that location when you are ready for collection.
- During the winter, please ensure carts are free of snow and ice, and are visible to the collection crew. Please do not place carts on top of snow banks
- Recycling and composting will reduce the amount of garbage you have. If you are doing renovations or cleaning out rooms or the yard, we would recommend you use a free Transfer Station voucher. If you consistently have excess waste, please give us a call (403-223-5500 x 5461) and we will go over your options.
- Each cart has a serial address that can be tracked. We will do our best to track down your cart(s).
- Your collection day depends on where you live in Taber! To see the maps and calendars for collection, follow this link!
- To offset the costs to residents of disposing additional waste, the Town has initiated a coupon voucher system. Instead of having Town crews collecting waste from the alleys once a year, the Town will be issuing vouchers to cover some of the disposal fees for large items that need to be taken to the Transfer Station.
These coupons can be used by residents to dispose of additional waste that typically comes from spring cleaning, such as: appliances, old furniture, scraps of lumber, demolition materials, broken concrete, etc.
How it Works: Each resident of Taber will receive three (3) coupons per year. These coupons cover the disposal of 250kg of waste, and must be presented at the Taber Transfer Weigh Scale when used. The coupons can be picked up at the Town Office.
- Place your cart(s) in the alley or on the curb by 7 AM the morning of your collection day, or the night before. Please don't be late or your carts will be missed!
- Front Curb: Carts should be on the street with the wheels against the curb. Make sure the arrow at the top of the lid is pointing to the centre of the road. Please leave at least an arm length (1 metre) between the carts and other objects.
Alley: Carts should be on your side of the alley with the wheels facing your house. Make sure the arrow on the lid is pointing to the centre of the alley. Please leave at least 1 metre between the cart and other objects, and a 3 metre space above the cart.
- Three reasons mainly: To save money, to help the environment, and to show municipal leadership. With the new system, we will pay approximately $30 per tonne to dispose of our compostable material, as opposed to the $110/tonne we are paying currently for landfill tipping rates. The Town transfers about 110 tonnes of garbage a week! The new system will place less garbage in the landfill, reducing energy and greenhouse gasses as well as increasing our recyclables. Finally, there are very few places in Alberta that have composting programs. Taber's new system will show that composting programs are possible and make us a leader in small town municipal management.
- When the carts are full, it is unlikely that they will blow over. However, when the carts are empty, there is a chance they will fall down. The carts are rugged, so they should withstand falling over. If a problem occurs with your cart, or they become damaged, please call the Public Works Shop (402-223-5500 x 5461) and we will solve the problem.
- Rinsing your bins out occasionally should mitigate any risk of smells.
- Yes, the Town will continue to offer the program in Spring and Fall. We will be spending one week in each area to pick up tree branches and leaves. Information on the program is released closer to the dates for each collection area.