It has taken over a decade of struggle to find a location, but the new waste management centre in Canmore is finally open for business.
The facility celebrated its opening last week with officials involved in the process to see it built along with a material recycling centre – and operated by the Bow Valley Waste Management Commission.
“This project has been discussed by various councils and the commission for a very long time,” said Mayor John Borrowman. “It is fabulous to see it operating. It is another success we can chalk up to collaboration in the Bow Valley with the MD of Bighorn and Banff.”
Commission chair Paul Ryan, who was first appointed to that board in 2002, also noted the amount of time it took for partners to agree on a location and especially Alberta Environment, because the new location is in a habitat patch. In addition, he noted, the province has held onto a $2 million grant for the project for several years while a location was decided.
“I hope and believe this facility will serve the needs of Canmore for decades to come,” Ryan said.
Andreas Comeau, manager of public works at the Town of Canmore, gave a tour of the $6.4 million new facility, pointing out various improvements in operations now that it has a custom built building.
“It is a much nicer and cleaner environment than we had before,” he said. Not only is it cleaner, it is safer for staff to operate, from not having to put municipal solid waste on the floor to transfer, to not having to move large bins around for processing recycling.
The site is actually where the old sewage lagoon was located before being turned into a concrete pad for curing compost. The latter was shut down due to odour problems in South Canmore.
“When we were looking for a new facility, and we have been for a while, going on 15 years, this was a good location,” Comeau said.
One of the key components for the regional facility has been recycling, as the municipality needed to expand its processing capacity to introduce beyond curbside recycling in the community.
With a new $1.15 million Machinex processing line for recycling, Canmore can more efficiently separate and bale items like plastic and cardboard for sale on the market.
“The great thing about the facility is we do not have to bring product outside, which can cause problems,” Comeau said.
Increased access to recycling with blue bear proof bins seems to be working, with the first quarter of 2014 having 20-45 per cent more goods recycled than the year before.
Several years ago a move to put both expanded facilities on Boulder Crescent was met with neighbourhood opposition from Grotto Mountain Village and Eagle View.
As a result, municipal and regional waste officials went to the province to request the facility be located next to the wastewater treatment plant – which is on provincial land.
