Altona residents will no longer be able to use this type of plastic leaf bag it they want their yard waste to be collected by the town. (File Photo)

Altona town council has approved changes to its curbside collection program for yard waste.
    
Residents will no longer be able to put their grass clippings, leaves and small branches into those big plastic leaf bags. Instead, homeowners are being encouraged to collect their yard waste into reusable containers and compostable paper bags.

"Our contractor struggles in completing the town pick-up within one business day, which is part of the contract," said Altona public works foreman Steve Wiebe. "Part of the problem is that people are using plastic bags in which the contents have to be physically dumped into the truck and then the empty bags are placed back on the homeowners yards. This is taking an inordinate amount of time.'

That's why council has opted to restrict the use of regular plastic leaf bags and use compostable yard waste bags which can be hauled away and delivered to the compost site and will eventually become part of the compost material in an effort to streamline the operation and create some efficiencies for their curbside pickup program.

"We are starting the year off with this in effect. It has worked well for communities like Steinbach and Winnipeg and we expect to begin here in late April," said Wiebe.

Wiebe says the compostable bags and reusable containers are available at a number of retail locations in Altona.