The City of Revelstoke has launched a new app to help people keep track of collection days, just as a new schedule goes into effect.
The web tool is coming online as the city switches over to a fixed garbage schedule that starts next week.
The app, which can be accessed online or by downloading the Re-Collect app on your smartphone, allows you to sign up for text, e-mail, Twitter or phone reminders of your pickup day. You can download the collection schedule to your calendar, and there's also a "waste wizard" which lets you see if something should be reused, recycled, or thrown in the trash.
The new garbage schedule starts on Tuesday, Feb. 2. Residents of Arrow Heights and the section of Southside east of Edward Street and south of Fourth street, will have pickup on Tuesday. The rest of Southside and the portion of Central Revelstoke south of Fourth Street will have pickup on Wednesday. Columbia Park, CPR Hill and Johnson Heights will have garbage pickup on Thursday. The Big Eddy, Farwell and the rest of the Central Revelstoke will have garbage pickup on Friday.
While scrapping the rotating garbage schedule was well received, less popular is the reduction in the number of cans people can put out without having to purchase tags. You can now only put out one 77 litre garbage can instead of two, and tags for extra cans will cost $3 instead of $2.
Some people have complained on social media that the changes unfairly impact large families, particularly those with children in diapers. The city hopes the change will encourage people to reduce the amount of waste they produce.
People with garbage bins larger than 77 litres are being given a grace period to purchase a new one. The city is allowing people with physical limitations to apply to use larger, wheeled garbage cans.