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Landfill hours have taken months to sort

The final times are now in place for the operating hours of landfill sites in Lac La Biche County, but the conversation to make sure residents were taken care of — while keeping staff happy and keeping county land clean has been piling up since last
landfill hours

The final times are now in place for the operating hours of landfill sites in Lac La Biche County, but the conversation to make sure residents were taken care of — while keeping staff happy and keeping county land clean has been piling up since last summer.

Over the last 10 months, councillors have been trying to find a balance between times they think residents use the area's landfills and survey results collected by municipal administrators from residents who use the landfills. The survey results included the responses from 260 area landfill users, plus an extensive comparison of services with several other municipalities. The survey results were presented to councillors in March — but discussions have continued into this month on the issue.

Rich Lake area councillor Darlene Beniuk thought the survey results needed more details.

"The survey results were handed to me, but I would like to see site-specific survey reports," she said at at the most recent meeting to finalize the operating hours. "I'd like to know if three people responded from my area or 253."

Beniuk and Owl River-area councillor Sterling Johnson were also convinced that their residents would prefer to have their landfills open on Sundays so garbage from weekend projects could be disposed of right away. Beniuk had also asked municipal administrators if un-manned dumpsters left outside of landfills would be an option to allow residents to dispose of their waste at any time.

The survey saw responses collected in July of last year. The finished survey was released to councillors on March 26 this year. It didn't find any feedback from respondents calling for Sunday openings. A comparison to other landfills in the province also showed little to no Sunday operating days. Those same comparisons with other municipalities found that none of them — even the ones that offer un-manned bins outside landfills — would recommend having the bins as they become unsightly once residents begin simply leaving items around the area.

"A number of concerns have been expressed by surrounding municipalities regarding the unattended bin sites, these concerns are also shared by (Lac La Biche County) administration," wrote the municipality's manager of Environmental Services Molly Fyten in her report to council. "Unattended sites encourage contamination, as material is often not separated ... Many of the items are large and unsightly and end up outside the bin ... It is hard to educate residents (and non-residents) on proper usage as it is easy, convenient and free for them to dump material with no discretion and reduced accountability."

Security monitors stolen

In Lac La Biche County, Fyten said there isn't a huge problem with people dumping items outside the locked gates of transfer stations or landfills, but the remote locations of some of the rural sites would make it difficult to enforce or educate  if anyone chose to leave items. In fact, one attempt to monitor the outside gate of a transfer station was a testament to the problems faced with the remote locations.

"You can set up trail cams. We had some of them at our landfills ... they they also got stolen," said Fyten.

Costs to monitor and clean the unmanned sites were also said to be high and outside of current budget levels.

According to the department's survey, which was completed by 78 online submissions and 188 paper responses, upwards of 65 per cent of landfill site users are happy with the current level of service and hours of operation.

Despite that, councillor Beniuk pressed to have the survey re-drafted with more site-specific details.

"I can't make a decision on behalf of my residents without knowing how they feel," she told other councillors during the May 7 Lac La Biche County council meeting before asking for another survey to be completed.

Councillor Johnson said the rural residents deserve to be heard. Despite the survey, he said programs like curbside garbage and recycling for the more urban residents and the annual large-item pick up for residents living in the hamlets of Lac La Biche and Plamondon are very unfair to the rural residents.

"There's no respect for the rurals. That's how I see it," he said.

A formal request to have another survey was defeated with only Johnson and Beniuk voting in favour.

Councillors did pass the new schedule for area landfills — a schedule that will be reviewed as the year goes on. The new schedule will see year round opening hours of  9a m. to 4:30 pm from Monday to Saturday for the Beaver Lake landfill site. The Plamondon landfill will have the same hours, but from Tuesday to Saturday. The Craigend and Hylo lanfills will be open the same hours but only on Wednesday and Saturday, and the Olw river and Rich Lake lanfill sites will be open from 9 am to 4:30 pm. on Tuesdays and Sundays. The schedules are for all-year operations.

A graph of the hours of operation can be found in a link in the digital version of this story at www.laclabichepost.com


Rob McKinley

About the Author: Rob McKinley

Rob has been in the media, marketing and promotion business for 30 years, working in the public sector, as well as media outlets in major metropolitan markets, smaller rural communities and Indigenous-focused settings.
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