Saint John’s new Waste Wise program is proving to be successful so far, according to city staff.

The program, which began the week of Oct. 23, includes curbside collection of garbage, recycling and composting.

Each household received green and blue recycling bins. The green bin is for plastics, tin cans, aluminium and milk cartons. The blue bin is for paper, boxboard and cardboard.

“We’re seeing great results so far. Our early target in the reduction in the garbage was about 15 per cent previous to Waste Wise, and we’re certainly seeing an excise to that 15 per cent reduction,” said Tim O’Reilly, director of Public Works for the city.

“We’re also seeing some promising numbers on how much people are recycling as well, so we want to give credit to our community for adjusting and that’s going to produce the environmental and financial savings that the program was attended to achieve.”

City staff also delivered to most households a garbage cart that will work with the “helping hand” technology.

An urban bag tag system is being used for residents in special collection areas, and for those who receive weekly service. Any extra garbage outside of the limit will require a $2 bag tag.

For more information on the program, click here.