Recycling depots face permanent closure

The City of Brandon’s three recycling depots will permanently close at the end of the season due to litter complaints and contamination issues.

City council voted to go ahead with the permanent closures at its regular council meeting on Monday, also opting to close the Keystone Centre recycling depot one month early.

Administration’s recommendation to also permanently close the city’s five organic waste drop-off sites was deferred until budget time.

In addition to the Keystone Centre, the city has recycling depots at the Community Sportsplex and at the corner of 34th Street and Victoria Avenue. The five organic waste sites are at Rideau Park, the Westridge Community Centre, the corner of First Street and Richmond Avenue, the corner of 34th Street and Victoria Avenue, and the Community Sportsplex.

Council decided on the closures after lengthy discussion Monday evening. The Keystone Centre bins will be removed by Oct. 15. Other recycling and organic depots will be open until Nov. 14, when they were already set to be removed for the winter.

Recycling bins will now be centralized at the Eastview Landfill at 765 33rd St. East. Starting Oct. 15, residents will be able to drop off their recycling at the landfill 24-7 without fees. After business hours, materials can be placed in bins outside the gate.

The messes from the depots have been a rising concern.

“The debris would often blow down all the way into yards, and it was frankly a mess,” said Coun. Shaun Cameron (Ward 4) about the 34th Street depot in his ward.

City administration’s recommendation largely stems from people throwing the wrong materials into the bins. Some of those materials include tires, furniture, washing machines and even jerry cans with leftover fuel.

The contamination of bins leads to additional costs once materials enter the landfill, and requires “at least two” staff members being pulled away from other tasks, according to a slideshow given by administration.

“We’re seeing an increased level of misuse of the depots,” said Pam Richardson, the city’s director of public works.

There have also been rising complaints about litter from businesses and the public, which is why the Keystone Centre depot is being closed early.

The added work has cost the city anywhere between $54,000 and $72,000 over the last nine months, Richardson said.

Richardson said if the bins were to be placed back next year — even just the organic bins — the problems would re-emerge.

“We believe that no matter what bin you have out — if you have a bin out, the opportunity to misuse and contaminate that bin is too easy,” she told council.

Cameron said the bin removal worries him that people will dump their recycling and organic waste at the sites anyway. He asked Richardson if gating the sites or adding security cameras would be possible.

“We definitely recognize that could be an issue at multiple sites,” Richardson responded. “We will monitor it off the start and we may have to look at other solutions and potentially maybe work with BPS (Brandon Police Service) on what that might look like moving forward.”

Council was set to vote on the permanent removal of the organic waste bins before Coun. Shawn Berry said he wasn’t comfortable with it at this time.

“I’m not totally opposed to moving everything to the landfill (but) I still want some time to think about it,” the Ward 7 councillor said.

Organic waste bins in his ward haven’t been the subject of complaints, he said.

“Most of this stuff I’m good with — it’s yard waste bins that I still think we can do something with around the city.”

After the meeting, Brandon Mayor Jeff Fawcett said the permanent closure of both the recycling and organic depots is his preferred option.

“I’d like to see us keep everything in a controlled area out there so it can be managed better with staff,” Fawcett said.

He said some residents will just have to secure items a little bit tighter for the slightly longer trip.

“They’ve become more of an eyesore full of contamination, so they’re not even serving the purposes they were (supposed to be) serving. So hopefully this will be helpful.”

Coun. Heather Karrouze (Ward 1) suggested repurposing closed sites for playgrounds or gathering spaces.

Doing that would help prevent people from dumping their waste at those locations, she added.

The bins were initially introduced in the early 1990s for tin cans and evolved into their current purpose.

Cameron said people misusing what used to be a good resource has led to the current issues.

“To paraphrase Taylor Swift, ‘This is why we can’t have nice things.’”

» alambert@brandonsun.com