Recycling backlog ‘inland garbage dump’ to neighbours

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This article was published 27/08/2019 (2248 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Three weeks after a fire forced delays at an Emterra Environmental processing plant, mountains of recyclables remain loosely piled outside — and neighbours are tired of holding their noses.

“It’s like standing outside a garbage dump,” G2 Logistics Inc. chief executive officer Jonathan Gershman said Tuesday. His business is located across the street on Henry Avenue, and says the recyclables reek.

“If we have a north wind, and it’s warm, it’s disgusting. It’s like literally living at the dump.”

Recyclables have been covering the outdoor space at the Logan-CPR neighbourhood property since Aug. 8, when a fire damaged a conveyor belt at the plant, slowing down sorting operations. As collected items had to be sorted using a slower process, the piles grew to surround the building.

The damage was repaired Aug. 24, and recyclables sitting outside are now moving through the system, said a spokesman for the City of Winnipeg.

“Crews are starting to mix in the material from the stockpile with new material coming in, and will continue to do so until the outside pile is cleared away,” said city spokesperson Adam Campbell. “There is currently no timeline for when this will be complete.”

Gershman said he’s seen big piles at the Emterra plant before, but nothing like this — and the recyclables are usually tidily baled. The current mounds are loose and subject to the elements, he said.

“It’s not piles, it’s mountains… there’s only an eight-foot chain-link fence blocking any of that. Any sort of wind around, it just starts blowing stuff everywhere,” he said.

“The city just doesn’t want to admit that it’s got an inland garbage dump.”

Campbell said no recyclables piled outdoors had to be sent to the landfill and recycling collection hasn’t been disrupted.

Canada Fibers Ltd. will take over City of Winnipeg recycling processing, as of Oct. 1.

The new, 10-year, $112.6-million contract (awarded in 2018) requires Canada Fibers to construct a state-of-the-art processing plant, capable of handling up to 65,000 tonnes, somewhere within city limits.

It has promised technical advances, such as an “integrated cascading cluster of infrared optical sorters” to sort 100,000 tonnes per year.

City officials have said the facility will reduce contamination of Winnipeg’s recyclables to meet more stringent standards for international markets.

tvanderhart@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @tessavanderhart