Mission residents can continue to drop off their yard waste for free at the Mission landfill.
Council has extended the free program to March 3. Originally, the program was supposed to end on Feb. 11. The weekly curbside compostable collection container and yard waste bundle limit of a combined total of 10 has also been extended until March 3.
The free drop off was created after a severe ice storm hit Mission on Dec. 29, 2017. The weight of the ice on trees resulted in many branches breaking and trees toppling both on private and public property.
According to a staff report, from Jan 9, 2018, to Jan. 23, 2018, Mission residents dropped off 341 tonnes of yard waste for free at the Mission Landfill.
This equates to a compost processing contractor cost of approximately $15,000. In addition to this amount, yard waste was also received from landscapers and other commercial contractors that were hired to clean up residential yards.
It has been estimated that, from Jan. 9 to Feb. 11 it will cost the district approximately $46,000 for all of the free debris dropped off.
Based on the costs observed to date, extending the free drop-off period from February 11 to March 3, is projected to cost an additional $27,000, for a total program cost of $73,000.