There's a new game that's being played all over Airdrie.  Perhaps you've taken in the messy fun.  

It's called "Find Your Recycling Cart After It Gets Blown Away Or Dumped Over By the Hurricane-Like West Winds!"

The city says many recycling carts have fallen victim to chinook winds which have blown through Airdrie and overstuffed carts caused by a large amount of Christmas paper and packaging cardboard that's been put into them.

Tracey Pagenhardt, Program Coordinator with Airdrie's Waste and Recycling Department explains what's happening.

"We're running into a lot of issues with our blue carts being toppled over.  It's not uncommon given the winds we have in Airdrie.  We have encountered, because of the excess recycling from the holidays, people overstuffing the carts a little bit.  So what happens is that wind really catches on to that cardboard or an open lid and it's toppling the cart over."

Pagenhardt says, in the event your cart does end up somewhere near Saskatchewan, it's important to write your address on the white space provided at the top of the cart.  She also has more tips and advice for windy Airdrie.

"Another tip would be to not overstuff the carts.  The lid does actually need to close on the cart.  When you have overstuffed cardboard in there, it acts as a sort of a bit of a sail and it will topple easier.  Our contractors are working hard to right the toppled carts and they are collecting some of these overstuffed carts which is not something they necessarily do every day but given the excess winds and the excess materials they are doing their best ot make sure collection happens."

Pagenhardt says overstuffing the carts can be a problem for recycling contractors, and not just in times of winds.

"We don't want the overstuffed carts because what happens is if you have excess material hanging out of that bin, one it can get covered in snow and cause the cart to topple over and the service is fully automated so it's very tough for the arms of those trucks to be able to reach and effectively dump that cart without making too much of a mess with that excess material.  We always advise folks, if you do have excess material, either talk to a neighbour, maybe they have enough room in their cart, or you can bring it down to the eastside recycle depot and it can be sorted and recycled here."

Questions? Comments? Story ideas? Email us at news@discoverairdrie.com