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Plastics plague city compost

St. Albert may soon have to pay steep fines for its organic waste because too many plastic bags – and too many green carts – are ending up in the city's dump.
UNACCEPTABLE – An example of extensive plastic contamination
UNACCEPTABLE – An example of extensive plastic contamination

St. Albert may soon have to pay steep fines for its organic waste because too many plastic bags – and too many green carts – are ending up in the city's dump.

The Gazette learned this week that Roseridge Landfill was on the verge of levying a $150 per truckload fine on the City of St. Albert due to ongoing contamination problems with its green cart curbside organics program.

Roseridge manager Gerard Duffy said this week that there was a significant amount of non-compostable material coming in from St. Albert's green carts.

"We're seeing a lot of plastic bags coming through that aren't biodegradable," he said, as well as black trash bags and blue bags full of recycling. He estimated that about 15 per cent of St. Albert's organics loads were contaminated this way.

"It's coming in every week."

Duffy said that while this problem had been happening for years, the landfill recently changed its practices to better track the source of each load of waste, which made the St. Albert problem more obvious.

Another clue was the fact that many of these contaminated loads contained actual City of St. Albert green carts.

Duffy said his crews have spotted many green carts in loads from St. Albert in recent years, which were presumably dropped into the collection trucks by accident.

"It's more than I can count," he said of the carts, guessing that there had been a few dozen.

City environment director Leah Kongsrude contested this, saying that her quick scan of last year's cart exchange/replacement requests suggests that about 35 were due to "missing" carts. She estimated that about five may have been "eaten" by trash trucks, noting that the city's contractor has to report all such incidents.

Duffy said contaminated loads mean more work for the landfill, as crews have to repeatedly flip them with heavy equipment to break open the plastic bags and then remove them by hand before the organic waste can be composted.

Duffy said he had discussed the matter with the city and would soon impose a $150 fine per truckload of contaminated organics as well as a $10 per tonne higher rate unless the problem was addressed. Last week was supposed to be the last straw, but he has decided to work with the city some more.

"Obviously, I want to work with people and not penalize, but it's been going on too long," he said.

Councillor “absolutely disgusted”

Morinville Coun. Stephen Dafoe, who represents that town on the Roseridge board, said in an email that he was "absolutely disgusted" by the continuing contamination of the organics pile at Roseridge.

"I'm absolutely disgusted by what some St. Albert residents deem to be organics – bags of garbage, microwaves, boots, and other items," he said.

Dafoe said Roseridge administrators have told him that St. Albert's contamination rate was about 30 per cent higher than that of other Sturgeon County communities with organics collection.

Dafoe questioned whether St. Albert's decision to switch to bi-weekly trash collection had actually encouraged waste diversion as claimed or if residents were simply using their organics cart as an alternate trash can.

"St. Albert needs to walk the waste-reduction game, not just talk it."

St. Albert waste and diversion programs co-ordinator Olivia Kwok defended the city's efforts, saying that it had diverted some 11,000 tonnes of waste through the green cart program last year.

"From time to time there may be things that go inside the cart that don't belong there," Kwok said, adding that the city recently revamped its online guide on what should and shouldn't go in the green bin.

Drivers try to save green carts that fall into their trucks before the crusher engages, but aren't always successful, Kwok said. Residents receive free replacements if their carts are destroyed this way. When they spot contaminants in carts, drivers leave those carts at the curb along with an orange tag so residents can learn why the cart wasn't collected.

Duffy urged St. Albert residents to only put compostable bags and waste into their green carts.

"Put waste in its place. If it doesn't look like it will break down, don't put it in the compost."

Visit stalbert.ca/waste for a guide on what to put in the green cart.




Kevin Ma

About the Author: Kevin Ma

Kevin Ma joined the St. Albert Gazette in 2006. He writes about Sturgeon County, education, the environment, agriculture, science and aboriginal affairs. He also contributes features, photographs and video.
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