Cranbrook City Council received a detailed report Monday night on public preferences surrounding local waste collection services and future facility planning for gymnastics and childcare, following a public input survey.
Conducted between March 31 and April 25, the survey sought feedback on curbside garbage and recycling collection, potential organics collection, and locations for upcoming local facilities.
The City partnered with Discovery Research to carry out a two-part survey that included a mail-out to 1,600 randomly selected households (with a 33.7% response rate), alongside an open online survey that gathered 1,077 responses.
Discovery Research, who also led the City’s Budget 2025 Citizen Survey, presented the findings virtually to Council.
The results shed light on community priorities and revealed strong opinions on several key issues.
Waste Collection and Organics
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Bi-Weekly Collection: A slight majority (53%) of respondents support transitioning to bi-weekly garbage collection using the current bin size. An additional 12% would support it if provided with a larger bin.
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Cart Flexibility: There is broad support (63%) for offering three cart size options for garbage (120L, 240L, and 360L). Similar support (62%) was shown for flexible recycling cart sizes.
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Satisfaction Rates: Most residents are satisfied with current waste services—89% are happy with garbage collection, and 78% are satisfied with recycling services.
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Current Organic Waste Habits: Despite a growing environmental focus, 79% of respondents still dispose of food waste in their garbage. Only 31% compost food waste at home. For yard waste, 88% use the Cranbrook Transfer Station, while 19% compost it themselves.
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Organics Program: Just over half of respondents (51%) support introducing a curbside organics collection program. A quarter (25%) opposed the idea.
Future Facility Locations
In addition to waste services, residents shared their thoughts on proposed locations for two major public facilities:
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Gymnastics Club: A significant majority (76%) support placing the new gymnastics facility at the former library site adjacent to Western Financial Place.
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Childcare Facility: Balment Park emerged as the preferred location for a new childcare centre, with 54% support.
Mayor Wayne Price, says, “On behalf of the Council, I am grateful for the important feedback from our residents, which we are very happy to have.
Thank you to everyone who participated in this survey.”
Council is expected to review next steps in coming months.
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