Battleford garbage is now no longer dumped across the river.
Loraas Environmental’s new waste transfer station is located in the industrial part of Battleford beside the decommissioned landfill site.
The station, initially publicly proposed by Loraas at a July 2017 Battleford town council meeting, is now fully operational. Rather than a landfill, Loraas constructed a building with a concrete floor to store garbage. Garbage is then scooped into trailers and trucks transport the garbage to the RM of Wilton landfill.
General Manager Ruebecca Fiddler said the Town of Battleford's waste is dumped at the new facility.
Transporting general waste to the Battleford facility is $115 per metric tonne. There is a $5 entrance fee, although Fiddler said recycling is free to drop off.
The North Battleford landfill charges $125 per metric tonne of household waste, but North Battleford residents receive a 33 per cent discount.
Along with general waste, the Battleford waste transfer station is also accepting clean wood, drywall, passenger tires and metal.
Clean wood is $15 per tonne. Passenger tires are $25 each and must not have rims.
Metal is $115 per tonne. The cost of bringing metal to the North Battleford landfill is $15 per tonne. Fiddler said the reason for the discrepancy is due to the Battleford facility not having the ability at this point to stockpile metal, and such metal is transported to the North Battleford landfill.
According to an information sheet on the town’s website, paint, railroad ties, telephone poles and hazardous materials including asbestos and lime are not accepted.
“Maybe at some point in time we can see other material being stockpiled,” Fiddler said. “At this point we don’t have anything besides what’s in the container and what we’re transporting out.”
Fiddler said a recent trend in waste management, particularly in the United States, has been to build more waste transfer stations and have less landfills. Household waste at the new facility doesn’t touch the ground.
“It’s definitely a different way of doing things,” Fiddler said. “The less landfills you have the less concerns you have.”
The site is open Tuesday to Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and is closed statutory holidays. Loraas Environmental’s phone number is 306-445-3900.
Pricing update: A previous version of this article stated clean wood/drywall cost $95 per tonne. Ruebecca Fiddler of Loraas Environmental told the News-Optimist on Thursday, May 3 clean wood is accepted at a price of $15 per tonne.
