By Sam Borsato - @BorsatoSam on Twitter

Bylaw passes to borrow funds for Materials Recovery Facility construction

Jun 21, 2017 | 10:13 AM

LETHBRIDGE – The City of Lethbridge has taken a huge leap toward the construction of a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF).
 
Bylaw 6062 was passed on Monday (June 19) to allow the municipality to incur an indebtedness of $15,750,000, for the total $16,300,000 project price tag. Those funds will be paid back to the Alberta Capital Finance Authority or another authorized financial institution over a period not exceeding 20 years.
 
It was also stated that the office of the city clerk did not receive any petitions in opposition to the bylaw before the June 5, 2017 deadline.
 
The MRF will be a key component to implementing the residential curbside recycling program that was approved by council on November 28, 2016. It is used to process, sort and store the collected recyclables in preparation for marketing the resulting materials.
 
“We have recommended to city council that the MRF would be located out at the waste and recycling centre. This is where we have our customers come… So, we’re going to co-locate everything at the same location,” Dave Schaaf, waste and recycling services manager, noted at a previous city council meeting.
 
He says that equipment vendors should be selected by July, and construction should begin on the MRF by this fall. Contracts for facility operations are also on schedule to be fleshed out by early 2018.
 
The remainder of the $15-million will also be used to purchase carts and bins for single and multi-family buildings, two additional collection trucks and to expand the waste and recycling garage to house the additional trucks.
 
A bi-weekly collection pilot project is set to take place from January to March 2018 with 1,000 residences, which will be chosen later this year, according to Schaaf. That first phase will be funded up to $600,000 from the recycling accumulated surplus.
 
City-wide, bi-weekly collection is expected in 2019, alternating each week with waste collection. Recyclables will not have to be sorted before being placed in blue bins, and Lethbridge’s existing recycling stations will remain open 24 hours.
 
A seven-dollar monthly charge will be added to residential utility bills shortly before full implementation that will fully cover the program’s capital acquisition as well as curbside operations.

Plans for a green cart, organic materials system will be prepared for council’s consideration in 2019.