Local as well as regional businesses and commercial enterprises should be restricted from using the Sundre Recycling Centre unless they're willing to help cover the site's operational costs.
"There's some research and data that shows that some of the businesses in town are using it to fill the bins with industrial cardboard, which we weren't planning on," Jim Hall, operations manager, told council during its Jan. 23 workshop.
That means the containers fill up quickly, leaving little to no room for residents, as well as having to request additional pickups from the company contracted to haul the material out, he said.
Coun. Verna McFadden, who sits on the Mountain View Regional Waste Management Commission, recently informed her colleagues during council's regular Jan. 30 meeting that the municipality is not even supposed to handle commercial cardboard recycling in the first place.
The service that is made available by the Town of Sundre caters specifically to residents. Businesses are expected to deal with their own recycling.
"For taxpayers to pay for commercial use (of the recycling centre) is a question as to whether that's reasonable," Mayor Terry Leslie told the Round Up.
Of course recycling should be encouraged at every level up to and including commercial operations that generate far more recyclable material than the average resident. Additionally, rural residents also represent a significant portion of the site's user base.
"We like the fact that people are recycling and reducing the amount of waste they send to the landfill," said Leslie.
But the catch is coming to acceptable terms to provide the service affordably for those who are using it, he added.
To that end, Sundre officials met with a couple of their Mountain View County counterparts during a special meeting held in town on Tuesday, Jan. 31, when Reeve Bruce Beattie and Coun. Angela Aalbers attended to begin tossing ideas around.
Mountain View County works with some of its neighbouring municipalities, the mayor said, adding the county already has agreements with places such as Carstairs and Cremona.
"To be fair, we haven't asked for a contribution in dollars and cents and so this was just our opportunity to start that discussion."
Following the special meeting, Leslie said elected officials decided to direct their respective administrative staff to draft proposals that will be brought back to the councils for further deliberation.
The end goal is "to work together to make it a more effective recycling centre for all of our residents," he said.
Perhaps that conversation should include participation from local and regional businesses to determine whether they would be willing to be part of that cost-sharing solution, since allowing commercial enterprises to continue using a residential service without contributing a dime is not fair to taxpayers.
