City hall diverted almost 17 per cent of all recycling from the landfill during the fourth quarter of 2021, while it received nearly 86-per-cent more in commercial material during the same period.
Between Oct. 1 and Dec. 31, the landfill removed 16.8 per cent of all materials and diverted them to recycling, compared to 15.7 per cent of all materials being diverted during Q4 2020, a city council report said.
Between bulk intake and curbside pickup, Moose Jaw recycled a total of 345,921 kilograms during the fourth quarter of last year, of which 334,357 kilograms were allowable. In comparison, during Q4 2020, 342,628 kilograms of material were recycled, of which 334,494 kilograms were allowable.
Meanwhile, the landfill collected 14,571.81 tonnes of garbage from commercial, private and residential customers during Q4 last year, compared to 9,478.21 tonnes during Q4 2020.
Of note, commercial garbage collection increased to 11,504.80 tonnes from October to December last year compared to 6,192.95 tonnes during the same time in 2020. The reason for the jump is the Buffalo Pound Water Treatment Plant removed a large amount of sludge from its premises — 5,381.73 tonnes — as part of its upgrades to the building.
Water treatment
As part of its fourth-quarter report, the public works and utilities department indicated that it pumped 226.78 million imperial gallons of treated water during the final three months of last year and treated 229.77 million imperial gallons of wastewater during the same period.
In comparison, those figures were 235.47 million imperial gallons and 200.75 million imperial gallons, respectively.
One imperial gallon is 4.5 litres.
Transit
From October to December 2021, a total of 52,978 people rode Moose Jaw transit using cash, tickets, or monthly passes. This was an increase from 49,056 users during the same period in 2020.
Meanwhile, there were a total of 5,133 people who needed special needs transit during the final three months of last year, which was a jump from 2,201 users during the same period in 2020.
Also, 181 people — or 15 passengers per day — accessed the dial-a-bus program during Q4 of 2021. This decreased from Q3 when 222 users — or 17 passengers per day — accessed the program.
No data was available about the same time in 2020.
During its 2022 budget discussions, city council voted to park Saturday bus service bus permanently because of low ridership. City administration reaffirmed in mid-February that it planned to keep the service parked while it looked for alternative solutions to weekend transit.
The next regular council meeting is Monday, March 14.
