Monday - June 9, 2025 - Abbotsford, Chilliwack tackle bad recyclers

☀ High 29C | Special weather statement

Good morning!

It might not be summer in astronomical terms, but the weather sure says otherwise. I hope everyone had a chance to enjoy the sun over the weekend (and no one got a sunburn). The heat is expected to last until later this week, when we’ll likely get some sprinkles of rain.

Environment Canada is reminding people that this early season heat wave may feel worse than ones that happen later in the summer because we aren’t used to the heat yet. You can get a refresher on how to manage heat (and what different heat warnings mean) from the BCCDC. Hopefully we won’t need to face too many heat waves this year.

– Grace

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Traffic & Weather

🌤 Local forecast: Langley | Chilliwack | Abbotsford | Hope 

🚘 Driving today? Check the current traffic situation via Google, and find DriveBC’s latest updates.

🛣 Click here for links to road cameras across the Fraser Valley, including those for the Coquihalla, Highway 7, Hope-Princeton, Fraser Canyon, and Highway 1 in Langley and Abbotsford.

News

June’s housing rundown

Last month, prospective home buyers could choose from more than 4,000 homes listed for sale between Langley and Chilliwack. Despite all that supply, relatively few people are buying. Although the number of sales edged upwards, 15% fewer homes traded hands than a year ago.

• Today, Tyler shares charts and analyzes this month’s Fraser Valley housing statistics.

Related

Need to Know

🚓 RCMP officers carrying rifles were on scene at a barn fire in North Langley Friday [Langley Advance Times]

🏥 Abbotsford Regional Hospital had the longest ER wait times of any facility in BC, a new study has found [Abbotsford News] / The Current has reported on Abbotsford’s hospital wait times many times over the past four years [FVC]

🚧 Construction to turn Fraser Highway in Langley into a one-way road is creating headaches for some businesses [Global]

⚖ An Abbotsford man previously charged in two fatal road incidents has been fined for not providing a breath sample [Abbotsford News]

🔎 The Canadian Coast Guard will assess the fire-damaged Queen of Sidney to see if it poses a danger to the waters near Mission [Mission Record]

🏠 A non-profit has bought a Chilliwack apartment complex to ensure the rentals remain affordable [Chilliwack Progress]

🏎 A Maple Ridge man has had his corvette impounded for 30 days after he crashed it into a ditch in Mission [Mission Record]

🎤 The Harrison Festival of the Arts is back and packed with great live music from across Canada. Check out all the info here!*

*Sponsored Listing

The Agenda

Chilliwack and Abbotsford look to reduce recycling problems

Both the City of Chilliwack and the City of Abbotsford want their residents to improve at recycling, but the two municipalities are taking different approaches to try to solve the problem.

At the end of May, the City of Chilliwack launched a new Curbside Recycling Star Program that will give residents who sort their recycling perfectly a chance to be entered into a monthly draw for a $25 gift card. People who have one non-compliant item will get a blue star, indicating what needs to be removed for next time.

The City of Chilliwack did not say exactly how much inappropriate material ends up in curbside recycling, but the City of Abbotsford estimates that roughly 7% of the items put in its curbside recycling bins are not accepted.

Like Chilliwack, Abbotsford hopes to cut down on its recycling contamination this summer. However, Abbotsford will use both a carrot and a stick.

In a report that will be discussed in tomorrow’s council meeting, Abbotsford staff suggest that the city should punish residents who do not properly recycle their materials. Offenders could be fined $500 for an improperly filled recycling bin. Repeat offenders could have their curbside collection suspended.

Abbotsford isn’t only considering punishments to solve its recycling woes: it has been using the same recycling star program as Chilliwack since January, with a monthly winner taking home a $25 gift card each month. A grand-prize winner chosen in December will win free garbage collection for a year.

They say reducing contamination is necessary because recycling that contains the wrong materials can contaminate items that would otherwise be accepted, making it difficult or impossible to recycle the materials. But there is a financial aspect as well.

Abbotsford and other communities receive revenue from Recycle BC for their curbside recycling programs. Abbotsford could see its revenue reduced by up to $120,000 this year, depending on how many loads of recycling are above a 5% contamination rate.

Abbotsford staff said the city has a small number of recycling offenders: most are people using their recycling bins as extra garbage cans, or “wish-cyclers” who put in items they think will be able to be recycled, even if it’s not actually possible.

Both Chilliwack and Abbotsford have waste-sorting guides available online. You can find Chilliwack’s Waste Wizard here. You can find Abbotsford’s Waste Wizard here.

Correction

In last Thursday’s newsletter, we wrote that an agreement on UFV’s UPass would allow students to opt-in to the pass for the summer season. Although Chilliwack has approved the change, the agreement is still in draft form and needs to be signed by BC Transit, UFV, and UFV’s student union, as well as Mission and Abbotsford before the change can take place.

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🤝 Now hiring

• Assistant photo lab manager at London Drugs in Abbotsford

• Teacher on-call at the Fraser-Cascade School District

• Network security analyst at the Township of Langley

• Pickleball instructor at the City of Mission

• Maintenance planner and scheduler at Molson Coors in Chilliwack

Hiring in the Fraser Valley? Reply back and let us know!

🗓 Things to do

Continued learning: The Abbotsford Recreation Centre hosts a seniors-only class on “romantic” Britain on Thursday at 10am. The class will cover romantic stories by British writers, including Jane Austen, the Bronte sisters, and Charles Dickens. The class is $2 with an active pass. Details and registration online.

Indigenous celebration: The Fort Langley National Historic Site hosts a free celebration of Indigenous culture on Saturday. Listen to storytelling by Kwantlen elders, watch live performances, and visit more than 30 Indigenous-owned vendors. Details online.

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Catch up

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