Due to “significant delays” in moving forward with a No Landfill Disposal Facility, the Town of Sylvan Lake will soon be rolling out blue carts for recycling.
It will likely take up to two years for Fogdog Energy to gain approval from Alberta Environment and Parks and Town Council and have a facility built and operational.
“According to Fogdog Energy, this process is expected to take approximately four months for application and up to 12 months for approval,” said Operations Manager John Watson. “Once approval from AEP has been obtained, contract approval from Council will then be required followed by the construction process, which will take up to eight months.”
Because of the delay in the potential contract with Fogdog Energy, the Town of Sylvan Lake wants to ensure services are not interrupted in the meantime.
The Town will initiate the Blue Cart recycling program on Oct. 2. This program will replace the current green bins.
The blue carts will be an “automated collection” program, similar to the current garbage and recycling program used in Sylvan Lake.
However, the blue carts will be collected bi-weekly rather that weekly. Garbage collection will remain weekly.
“The blue carts are about four times larger than the green bins we are currently using. We are confident there will be no issue with bi-weekly pick-up,” said Watson.
Because of the length of time it could take to have a No Landfill Disposal Facility up and running in Sylvan Lake, the Town has issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) for various solid waste services, including;
- Roll-off bin service at the Waste Transfer Site (WTS) including hauling to the City of Red Deer landfill
- Compactor rental, one for cardboard and one for municipal solid waste (garbage)
- Recycle depot servicing; one at the Dog Park on 60 Street, and one at the WTS.
- Weekly organic curb-side collection (yard and kitchen waste) from late March to early November (about 37 weeks annually)
The RFP identifies the need for a two-year contract, with optional one-year extensions. Watson explained this would be a two year base contract with the option to extend the contract by one year twice.
“The RFP is expected to provide the Town with favourable pricing as compared to a month-by-month contract extension with our current solid waste services provider,” said Watson.
Council is expected to award a contract at the Sept. 10 meeting of Council, as the RFP process closes on Aug. 31. The current solid waste service contract expires on Sept. 30.
“As you can see we are on a very tight time frame, and it needs to be dealt with quickly,” Watson said.
Once the contract is awarded, the Town will be fully committed to it, no matter the outcome of the No Landfill Disposal Facility. If Fogdog Energy completes all the necessary applications and gains the proper approval before the contract expires, Sylvan Lake will continue to use the solid waste service provider until the contract expires.
“Should the Fogdog Facility receive approval sooner than expected, they would be required to develop a plan to coexist at the WTS while the Town honours the term of the solid waste services contract,” Watson said.
With the current service ready to expire in a month, the Town of Sylvan Lake will go back to the previous plan of using the Blue Carts for recycling beginning at the start of October.