Up to 75 per cent of Slave Lake’s household waste could be diverted from the landfill if we really got serious about it. What it would take, environmental consultant Kirstin Castro-Wunsch told Slave Lake Town Council at its Feb. 28 meeting, is a five-year plan, starting with curbside bag limits.
A two-bag weekly limit alone, Castro-Wunsch said, would “reduce waste by 30 per cent.”
The consultant made the somewhat surprising assertion that the program, in the long term, should cost about the same as what the Town is spending on waste management now. However, there would be implementation costs.
That and other details were part of a $10,000 study on household waste management issues the Town commissioned late last year.
Council’s earlier efforts at crafting a new by-law aimed at reducing household waste went nowhere – largely because council couldn’t agree about what might work and what residents were willing to put up with. After the waste management by-law died, council decided to spend some money to find out.
That was last fall. The Town hired a consultant to provide an expert analysis of the waste situation, including possibilities for composting and enhanced recycling.
Part of the task they assigned to KC Environmental Group of Edmonton was to ask Slave Lake residents what they thought about various aspects of waste management, including what they’d be willing to pay for and how much.
The results seem to provide council with a fairly bright green light to proceed – which is what they were hoping for.
“Definitely,” says council’s Property Services Committee Chair Laura Ross. “We know we can move forward.”
For example, 77 per cent of survey respondents favoured an increase in waste services, and 62 per cent would be willing to pay at least $1 to $3 more per month for those services.
Council was hoping to have a new waste management by-law in place by the end of March. There are a lot of details to work out, however.
First on the list is the curbside bag limit. Castro-Wunsch recommended the gentle approach – starting with a six-bag limit and going down two per year over the next two years to arrive at two bags per household per week. That was a bit slow for Councillor Valerie Tradewell. “I think six bags in the first year is way too much. I think our community is ready for less than that,” she said.
Other recommendations include an educational program, spring to fall curbside collection of organic waste in carts and enhancement of the recycling depot.
Councillors had a few questions and concerns following the consultant’s report. One was about the possibility of curbside bag limits resulting in trash being dumped ‘in the bush.’ Castro-Wunsch said it might happen for a few months, but that she doubted whether it would continue to be a problem. Whitecourt has had a bag limit for three years now, she said, and “it isn’t an issue,” there.
Councillor George Snider noted that reducing landfill volumes could actually increase the costs of running the landfill. But Castro-Wunsch said even a sharp reduction in household waste would not have much impact on total volumes going to the landfill, because the bulk of it comes from non-residential sources.
That prompted a question about how to reduce construction and commercial waste. It was outside the scope of the study, but Castro-Wunsch said one possibility is to make sorting of waste a condition of a business permit.
As for the recycling depot, Castro-Wunsch noted that it would need to be expanded and that there might not be enough space. A new location for it might be in order, she said. Having heard the report and accepted it as information, council’s discussion turned to a time frame for implementation. Council was hoping to have the new by-law in place before the end of March, because that’s when its temporary waste collection contract with Deuce Disposal runs out. The contract was kept temporary because a new waste management strategy might require new equipment. Council’s original intention was to have a new strategy in by-law before the end of last year, which when the contract with Deuce expired. Lacking that, and needing the consultant’s report to know where they were going with waste management, council couldn’t enter into a new contract. Hence the three-month extension while the consultant did her work.
Councillor Tradewell was all for getting on with it by the Mar. 30 deadline.
“We need some action,” she said. “I think we owe it to our contractor.”
To other councillors, that seemed unrealistic.
“It’s a lot to do in 30 days,” Councillor Snider observed. “I think it’s unfair to ask administration to get that much done in one month.”
Particularly when there isn’t another Property Services Committee meeting scheduled until the end of March.
Town Manager Betty Osmond suggested that the Town go over the report with the contractor, and also immediately get to work on the “technical details” in the report’s recommendations. Matters dealing with the public acceptability of a new waste collection program ought to be reviewed by a committee of council, she said.
Mayor Karina Pillay-Kinnee asked that the public survey results be advertised broadly and made available at the library.
Tradewell concluded the discussion by making a motion that administration talk to Deuce Disposal about the extension of the temporary contract. It was carried.

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