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The City of Regina fell short of its goal to divert 40 per cent of waste from the city landfill, but hopes to do better going forward.

“When the targets were set in 2011, there was anticipation that these programs could be introduced and implemented in a fairly quick pace,” said Lisa Legault, director of solid waste. “What we found is that it took longer than expected to get the blue cart program on the street. Once it was implemented, our focus turned towards supporting our residents and promoting recycling.”

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The 2011 Waste Plan Regina set the 40 per cent waste diversion target by 2015. Now the city expects to hit 65 per cent by 2020 with new services now in development, almost ready for implementation.

Over the last few years, the City of Regina has promoted recycling through media campaigns, public outreach and presentations to get residents to change their behaviours in regards to waste. The education campaign appears to be working. In 2014, 18 per cent of waste was diverted, rising to 20 per cent in 2016. In addition, blue carts are set out 18 of 26 collection days per year on average. Each bin is about 72 per cent full, but they also contain 11 per cent non-recyclable material.