With word that entering into a contract with the Koochiching County recycling plant across the river would mean a cost increase from $2,600 per month to $9,700, the Town of Fort Frances has to look for another place to send its recyclables.
And a suitable system to follow, Operations and Facilities manager Doug Brown told council Monday night, is the one being used by the City of Dryden because it would allow local residents to recycle not only a greater variety of materials (including box board, milk cartons, juice boxes, and plastics #3-7), but in greater quantities.
“Dryden has spent a considerable amount of money and time investigating options on how to deliver their recycling program,” Brown said in a report approved by council.
“Dryden is delivering their recyclables to the Metro [Recovery Inc.] recycling plant in Winnipeg,” he noted.
“Presently, Dryden is utilizing the old NORA material recovery facility building, where the curbside collection vehicles dump the recyclables onto the floor, and then is using a front-end loader to top-load recyclables into transport trucks and haul them to the Metro plant in Winnipeg for processing,” he added.
Dryden’s long-term goal, said Brown, is to install two Vquip modular self-loading bins called “transtors” to handle all their recyclables, thus eliminating the costs associated with operating the front-end loader to top-load the transport trucks.
“It is recommended the town adopt a similar recycling program that Dryden has started to implement,” he said.
According to Brown’s report, which council approved Monday night, the town should now take the following steps to start changing the way recycling is done here.
The first step is to notify the Koochiching County Environmental Services Department that the town will not be entering into a long-term agreement to provide recycle processing services, and to stop using its services as soon as is practical.
The town then should enter into a three-year contract with Metro Recovery Inc., where the town’s recyclables will be delivered co-mingled (i.e., not sorted into plastics, paper, etc.) to the Winnipeg-based facility.
There, recyclables would be processed at no cost to the town, and in fact, the town would even receive $75 per tonne for the cardboard it turns in.
The town then will call for a tender to secure a trucking company to haul recyclables from Fort Frances to the plant. Based on two quotes received, the lowest of which was from Gardewine North (Northern Bulk), it would cost $924.66 per trip to Winnipeg.
This amount is based on the assumption a 53-foot long walking trailer would be used. It is estimated that 32 such loads of recyclables would be transported in the first year.
For the short-term (less than one year), the town would have to rent a building large enough to store a trailer load of recyclables (nine-22 tonnes, depending on the type of trailer used) where curbside collection vehicles (possibly garbage trucks) would be able to dump recyclables on the floor.
A front-end loader will have to be operated within the building, where it would scoop up recyclables and exit the building to load a transport trailer.
Based on three quotes received, the lowest quote of which was from George Armstrong Ltd., it likely would cost $1,980 per month to rent a suitable space.
This includes the cost of loading three trailers per month using Armstrong’s loader.
Brown also will make an application to Waste Diversion Ontario under the “Effective & Efficiency Grant” program for the purchase of necessary capital equipment to handle and load recyclables in a cost-effective manner.
The town would be eligible for up to $400,000 in funding from WDO.
Once purchased, said Brown, this capital equipment (transtors) would eliminate the need for a building and a front-end loader to top-load a transport trailer.
With the town’s garbage collection contract expiring Oct. 31, the town will include in the tender call an option where bi-weekly collection of recyclables could be included in any new garbage contract.
And Brown will investigate the possibility of collecting recyclables from the local institutional, commercial, and industrial (ICI) sectors within guidelines, noted Brown.
As mentioned above, the town most recently has dealt with Koochiching County for its recycling processing, but in most recent contract talks, it has seen the cost of doing so triple.
Brown noted in his report that from his discussions with Richard Lehtinen, manager of Koochiching County Environmental Services Department, it appeared the sharp increase in what the town would have to pay is due to capital replacement costs for equipment and vehicles, staff overtime costs, and indirect labour costs.
Lehtinen was not available for comment prior to press time.
“It’s pretty clear they don’t want us as a customer,” Coun. Todd Hamilton remarked at Monday night’s council meeting.
“If we stay with Koochiching, the cost is going to be prohibitive. And we could not afford, in my opinion, to go down that road,” said Coun. Rick Wiedenhoeft.
“Going with Metro Recycling will allow us to expand our recyclables at a reasonable cost,” he added. “I think the people of Fort Frances are going to be quite pleased with this.”
Brown noted Dryden already has applied for a WDO grant to help fund its recycling program, and the outcome of that request likely would determine whether Fort Frances also could access funding to help with the costs here.
If the funding for Dryden is granted, he added, it’s likely Fort Frances would see some provincial dollars of its own next January or February.
(Fort Frances Times)
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
