INNISFAIL -- As the community prepares for its new waste collection service to start on April 1, the town is still pursuing glass recycling options, even with a company outside the province.
At council's regular meeting on March 11, Heather Whymark, the town's director of corporate services, presented a report on where the town and its residents stood on glass and plastic recycling options.
Whymark told council its new contractor for waste collection, Environmental 360 Solutions Inc. (E360S), will only pick up #2 plastics, also known as HDPE (high-density polyethylene) plastic used to make milk jugs, detergent and oil bottles, toys and some plastic bags. All other types are currently sent to the landfill.
"The market for plastic has drastically changed in the last couple of years. It is going to the landfill because there is nowhere to put it," said Holly Schell, operations manager for E360S, who made a separate presentation to council on March 11. Her company was awarded a three-year contract on Jan. 28 to handle the town's residential waste collection service, taking over from Waste Management.
Both Schell and Whymark said the poor plastic recycling market was due largely to China no longer accepting other plastics since early 2018.
As for glass, Schell also said there was not a "huge market for it" and her company does not recycle it.
"It can actually be quite dangerous when it's mixed in with the green (recycle) boxes," she told council.
However, Whymark told council a B.C. company, Enviro-Grit Abrasives, a sandblasting processor, is transforming waste glass into a sandblasting abrasive. Her preliminary research discovered the company will accept clear, coloured and even broken bottles. The company is being used by several Alberta municipalities, including Canmore, Banff, Edmonton, and Calgary.
Whymark told council Enviro-Grit Abrasives also supplies bins and does the pickup service.
"I think it would be on a pilot basis to see what type of volume they would get before they make a decision on how many bins would be available," she said, adding she did not yet have the information on the company's specific services and costs. "What other communities get charged, that might not be what we get charged. I don't know their cost breakdown at this point.
"If the costs come in below what the tonnage we would pay for recycling it would fall within the parameters of what we already have established," added Whymark in response to a question from Coun. Gavin Bates on the "vision of costs." " If that (glass) pickup is higher than the tonnage price that we pay for recycling of what we're already offering then we're going to have to look at some cost difference. It's really going to depend on what they charge."
A motion was approved for Whymark to find more glass recycling information, including costs, from Enviro-Grit Abrasives, and report back to council.
In the meantime, Schell told council that while E360S begins its new contract for the town on April 1, service will for several weeks remain the "exact same way," with manual pickups on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.
She said noticeable changes will begin in mid-May with residents receiving new carts, including a green one for organics, a black one for garbage and a green plastic box for recycling. Starting June 1, the company will begin its "biggest change for residents" with automated pickup on a reduced three-day schedule -- Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, said Schell. Only the green plastic recycling box pickup will be done manually.
Council was told by staff there will be an extensive public education plan for the new automated waste pickup service, which will include radio and social media advertising and notices, as well as print material inside utility bills. There will also be displays set up at town facilities, including town hall, the aquatic centre, library and arena.
"It will be interesting to see how it all works," said Mayor Jim Romane. "All of a sudden these new fancy trucks are coming through and questions will start to fly and we'll definitely have to have our education program in place."
