A $35,000 pilot project will see the Mike Mitchell Recycling Depot open seven days a week, at least temporarily.
City council on Monday voted unanimously to extend the hours at the depot so that it runs Monday to Sunday starting in July and ending in September, with the exception being on statutory holidays like Canada Day. Normally, the recycling depot is closed Sunday and Monday.
The money for the project is coming out of the city’s solid waste reserve and will primarily cover manpower to operate the depot during the additional hours.
Coun. Ken MacKay said he was inspired to put forward the motion after seeing what was being done in Wood Buffalo and because he is a part of the region’s waste minimization committee.
“This is another opportunity to help us inform our citizens in relation to how to reuse, reduce and recycle,” he said.
At the moment, residents can go to the depot to dump unwanted items like cardboard, newspapers, tin cans, paint, hazardous waste and electronics as well as extra garbage through the city's paid extra bag tag program. However, the city doesn't have a database showing how often the depot is used or by the time or week. The best guess the city has is that the busiest time appears to be on Tuesdays and Saturdays, with April to October generally seeing a lot of traffic.
The pilot project would look to fill in some of these gaps in the city’s knowledge, a point MacKay appeared to be concerned about.
“We don't know whether outside citizens are using (the depot), we don't know," he said. "When I was looking at trying to form this whole thing around recycling, waste minimization, we're not doing a very good job of it ourselves. This would be a method of better informing ourselves."
Council had a few other options to explore including spreading out the pilot project over a year as well as exploring a fee structure for non-ratepayers to use the facility.
Coun. Sheena Hughes supported the pilot project but voiced concerns over salaries. She said encouraging people to recycle is going to be essential especially in light of recent service cutbacks.
Coun. Wes Brodhead said he was encouraged by what the region was doing to tackle the issue of recycling and felt the city could be doing more.
"We positioned ourselves as the botanical arts, environmentally friendly community," he said. "And yet, we don't operate the hours that some of the other communities in the region do. I think as we expand or look at expanding our services, (I'm) looking forward to the data that this study is going to show. I think we will be better positioned to say to our people, 'It's going to cost you this kind of money to have seven-day access to our depot station.' "
Mayor Cathy Heron said she’s not sure if Sturgeon County residents are using the depot but supported a user fee structure.
“If you use, you pay,” she said. “I think that data collection wasn't really part of (MacKay's) initial motion but it's going to be a good addition."
City staff are expected to come back with their report sometime in the fall.
