The milder temperatures have many people in the mood for spring cleaning, including getting out into the yard and preparing it for the year. Things like raking, pruning shrubs and bushes, clearing out flower beds and more.  

As the work gets done, sometimes there is more than could fit into the garbage bin, so this means a trip to the landfill. For those who are heading out to the landfill with these items, the City of Weyburn has a few reminders, especially when working with yard waste. 

“One of the biggest things that we get confusion about with spring cleaning is what we would consider our compost pile versus our wood pile,” said Jennifer Wilkinson. She is the Director of Engineering with the City of Weyburn. “If you’re bringing leaves, grass clippings, garden waste, flowerbed waste, or sod, that can go to our compost pile and there is no charge for that.” 

Not all waste from the yard does count as compost, however.  

When you do add any kind of wood into it, which is like clean lumber, trees, stumps, or branches, those go into our wood pule and the charges do apply for that,” Wilkinson added.  

A mixed pile of yard waste which does have wood in it would be charged the regular fees even if there was other compostable yard waste included.  

What can and can’t be recycled is something else people should keep in mind when they are taking care of spring cleaning, be it indoors or outdoors. Wilkinson noted while a lot of children’s toys may be plastic, it doesn’t mean they can be recycled through the city’s recycling program. As well, not all products made out of recyclable material are equal.  

“A big thing to be aware of as well – things like greasy food containers aren’t accepted in recycling,” Wilkinson pointed out. “Those do need to go into your garbage.” 

As the spring cleaning happens, people also have the chance to take things somewhere other than the landfill for recycling. The city does maintain a list of businesses within Weyburn that handle other products for recycling, such as metals at Mryglod’s Steel & Metal, which diverts the items from the landfill.  

For those who are going to be handling spring cleaning and do need to take something to the landfill, the City of Weyburn is doing something to help. A coupon for one free residential drop off of household and yard waste can be expected to hit mailboxes by the weekend. The coupon can’t be used for business or commercial use. The loads must be tarped, and tires are not accepted. More details are available on the City of Weyburn Landfill website.