Sundre’s council heard during the May 28 meeting that all of the materials deposited at the recycling centre have ended up going to the landfill due to contamination for roughly the past couple of months.
“I wanted to tell you that for the last, I’m going to say two months, all of our recycles are going to the landfill, every time. So this is an emerging issue,” Jim Hall, operations manager, informed elected officials.
In other words, the hard work of environmentally conscious residents who take the time to responsibly sort recyclables from waste has basically been for naught all because of the actions of a few who could not be bothered to use the site responsibly.
Sounds as though there is a troublesome minority who treat the recycling centre as a waste transfer station, dropping off garbage they apparently don’t want to pay to dispose of the right way. And a contaminated load of recyclable materials ends up going to the trash.
Jim Hall, the municipality’s operations manager, said during an interview that in his experience, problems at the recycling centre seem to come and go in ebbs and flows.
Sometimes, weeks or months slip on by largely without any substantial issues.
But then, when it rains, it pours.
In light of the recycling centre’s ongoing misuse, some might suggest outright closing the site down.
Yet that approach will more than likely result in nothing more than the waste ending up in ditches, creating an even bigger and near-impossible-to-enforce problem. Not to mention the fact the move would also punish Sundre residents, who would then have to go to the transfer station that is only open two days a week to drop of recyclable items such excess cardboard or even glass, which cannot be included in the blue bins.
The ideas briefly discussed by council during the May 28 meeting were basically to either man the site, improve monitoring, relocate, or close it down. Perhaps there’s also room to consider a secure, fenced-off area that is closed overnight.
But Hall was clear during a phone conversation that closing the recycling centre down is not among the recommendations outlined in his report to elected officials.
The operations manager presented his report to council during a workshop held June 2, and while there was a discussion, Hall said he had not yet received official direction from council as of last week.
We think that every effort should be made to not only encourage but also to facilitate recycling so as many people as possible participate in the effort to reduce waste.
So to that end, we hope a suitable, cost-effective solution — not including closing down the site — can be reached.
— Ducatel is the Round Up’s editor
