Garbage & Recycling

The Village of Empress has regular residential and commercial garbage pick up once a week on Wednesday mornings. Please have your garbage bags out by 9:30 am on that day.

Normal pick up is up to 4 garbage bags a week that each do not weigh more than 30 pounds (13.6 kg). For details on garbage pick up more than that, see our Garbage rates. Garbage for pickup must be bagged.

Garbage & Recycling in our area is handled by the Big Country Waste Management Commission (BCWMC). Director of Operations is Sean Olmstead:
  .  .  .   Office: 403-779-3890
  .  .  .   Mobile: 403-857-9300
  .  .  .   E-mail: Sean.Olmstead@bcwmc.ca

Consider composting your organic food and yard waste.

Waste Transfer Sites, Landfill, and Recycling:
Places of Note for Empress residents

See Where to take What below.

Site	Days	Hours
Empress Transfer Site Map: 1 km West of Empress on Highway 899	Tuesday & Thursday	1 pm to 5 pm
	Saturday	10 am to 2 pm

Acadia Valley Transfer Site Map: 8.5 km southeast of Acadia Valley, Township Road 252 & Range Road 20)	Wednesday & Sunday	9 am to 5 pm

Oyen Transfer Site Map: 3.5 km south of Oyen, Township Road 274 between Highway 895 & Main Street	Tuesday & Saturday	9 am to 4 pm
	Thursday (Summer, starting May 1)	1 pm to 8 pm
	Thursday (Winter, starting Nov 1)	11 am to 6 pm

Youngstown Landfill Map: 3.5 km southwest of Youngstown, Township Road 294 & Range Road 94	Monday through Friday	8:30 am to 5 pm
	2nd Saturday of month	10 am to 4 pm

Hanna Transfer Site Map: 2.5 km north of Hanna on Range Road 144	Tuesday through Saturday	9 am to 5 pm

Medicine Hat (Recycle Bins) . . . . 24 hours a day, 7 days a week South: Medicine Hat Mall (west side of mall), 3292 Dunmore Road SE Mid-city: 240 Kipling St SE North: 20 Northlands Way NE

Guidelines for Visiting Your Waste Transfer Station

Below are a few basic guidelines. For full information, visit Big Country Waste Management Commission – Rural Transfer Station Operational Guidelines 2022

Observe and comply with area signage.
Do not place garbage at front of site.
Transfer stations are not designed to accept loads from large dump trucks or trailers. Those vehicles must go to the Youngsville Landfill.
NO smoking on site.
All materials must be bagged at all times.
Only small amounts of demolition is accepted, and they must be 2 by 4 feet (61 x 122 cm) or smaller.
Small amounts of furniture and beds over 4 feet in length are permitted, separatated from other waste.
NO hazardous waste, chemicals, medical, or liquid waste of any kind. See Hazardous waste below.
NO burning barrels or residues.
NO dead animals.
NO loads of dirt, waste, gravel, sewage, sludge or seed.
NO motor oil, undrained filters, or cooking oil.
NO containers of any sort containing any fluid.

Where to take What

For some recycling, click the Recycling & Waste menu item on the website for Big Country Waste Management Commission.

For recycling that they don’t do:

Food & Yard Waste: You, or your friend’s compost pile!

See our section of Composting at the bottom of this page.

Plastic: Medicine Hat Recycle Bins

Plastics #1-7 in one bin, Grocery bags in another.
Plastics that do not have the recycling symbol are not accepted for recycling.
Plastic film wrap and bags are not accepted for recycling.

Glass: Medicine Hat Recycle Bins

Both clear and colored glass can be recycled.
Rinse clean.
Remove and recycle metal and plastic caps/lids separately.

Aluminum & Tin (Household): Medicine Hat Recycle Bins

All food grade aluminium and steel cans, including pet food tins are accepted for recycling.
Rinse clean.
Insert lids inside can and pinch closed.

Printer Cartridges: Medicine Hat Best Buy

By the Mall: 3292 Dunmore Rd SE Unit 600

Small Batteries: Medicine Hat Best Buy

By the Mall: 3292 Dunmore Rd SE Unit 600

Household Hazardous Waste: Not usually accepted

Toxic, flammable, corrosive, and reactive products generated from households.
There is yearly event in Oyen where you can drop off these materials, usually in autumn or early winter.

Saturday, September 24, 2022, 9:00 am to Noon
Recycling Roundup
Oyen recycle area behind the UFA and Midtown Inn, off of 3 Street East.
Google Map
– Household Hazardous Waste
– Used Oil Materials
– Paint
– Electronics
– Tires

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Composting

Home Composting is great for all sorts of biodegradable waste except for meat. It can be as simple as making a pile in your backyard and mostly ignore it, or you can put more work into it. If you take care if it (turn/mix, don’t let it dry out, balance ingredients, etc.), you can get good dirt out of it fairly quickly. If you just pile it up and ignore it, … it will take longer.

Grass clippings
Leaves
Weeds (no seeds!)
Old hay
Straw
Old silage that has “gone too far”
Rotting wood (Note that it takes a very long time [years], for wood to rot to make compost)
Wood ashes (if they are clean of chemicals, like from plastic, grill charcoal, paint, etc.)
Food waste (other than animal products)
That salad that you just didn’t eat in time
Fruit and vegetable peels, stalks
Coffee grounds
Tea
That fruit cake that just won’t disappear
Your mother in-law’s vegetarian “meat loaf”
Those cookies your kids made for you
Et Cetera
And Much More

Animal products, including meat, bones, and dairy are generally bad for home composting. They smell bad, attract vermin, and will harbor pathogens like E coli and Salmonella, which will spread throughout the pile, then infect anything that grows from the compost. It is possible to compost animal products safely (proper heat, Ph, moisture, air), but it is not easy.