News, Updates, and Special Notices

This is the new home for any updates or changes to our service, or any other newsworthy bits that may impact your life.

You may be seeing a Wildsafe Coordinator around and leaving information on your bins. They are independent from us, but we want to do our part! Visit  www.facebook.com/WildSafeBCCowichanValley
Please use WildSafeBC’s Top 10 Ways to Help Wildlife in order to keep the community safe and the wildlife wild:
1. Keep your garbage secure – store it indoors, in the garbage, or in a bear-resistant enclosure.
2. Only put your garbage/yard waste/recyclables out on collection day - never the night before.
3. Manage your fruit trees so that fruit is picked as it ripens, and no windfall accumulates.
4. Bring bird feeders in from April through November – and when they are out, ensure that the ground
underneath is kept free of seeds.
5. Feed pets indoors.
6. Maintain your at home compost so that it doesn’t smell. Add fruit slowly. Never add meat or other animal products.
7. Protect fruit trees, beehives and small livestock with a properly installed and maintained electric fence.
8. Respect wild animals by not feeding them. Food-conditioned wildlife are more likely to come into conflict.
9. Keep barbecues clean and odour free.
10. Report any wildlife in conflict or bear, cougar or wolf sightings in the community to the Conservation Officer
Service 24/7 at 1.877.952.7277. These reports are uploaded daily to WildSafeBC’s Wildlife Alert Reporting
Program (WARP) that is available for free on our website www.wildsafebc.com/warp.

If we are unable to get out at all due to snow or severe ice the day we will be getting to you will be posted here.

How to tell if it's going to be a snow day 

Safety is our main concern, and we don't want to put you or the        drivers at risk.  Therefore, if the school busses aren't running, we      won't be either.
If the busses are running, but the roads are snowy, or visibility is low, we will generally be out and about - but on those days, routes will take a lot longer. Therefore, give us a few extra hours before you pull your bins in or call the office. 

What happens when collection day gets missed

We will try and collect your organics and/or garbage at the first possible opportunity.  

If the snow has melted or been removed from the neighbourhood, we are generally able to get to you the following day. If the roads remain snow-covered, and the ploughs haven't been able to dig you out, we have to wait until it is safe to navigate your neighbourhood.  

After several snow days in a row, we may decide it makes more sense to empty your bins the following week.  

The importance of being on time...

Our drivers start early - by 8am - and because we can never quite know how long the route will take (i.e. what time we'll get to your street), it is really important that everyone have their bins out by 8am.
For more information, please send us an email at pandisposal@shaw.ca

E-Transfers - an easy way to pay!​ 

Many customers are finding that cash or cheque payments are difficult to organize, so we'd like to promote the option of e-transfers. This can be done through your online banking. If you have any questions about setting that up, you can contact us or your bank branch for assistance. 

For e-transfers, however, you'll have to set up a password. We like answers we'll know; your account number, your road name.  If you want to use something else, make sure you let us know what it is! ​

Going Green - Island-wide!

It's been a few years since we began the Organics program, we want to thank YOU for helping us reach our goal, which is to divert half of what our company collects from the "dump" ... and we are close! This means almost half of the waste produced in South Cowichan is being turned into rich, nutrient-dense garden soil instead of harmful, water-polluting leachates! 

We're still struggling to collect clean, un-contaminated organic matter. I know it's easy to forget the bits (especially when food is past it's prime), but the the plastic, stickers, tags, bags, etc. have to be removed from food waste before it goes in your bin.