Stories From Around the M.D.

This week we’re talking about the penalties for dumping, disposing of, and abandoning waste outside of a landfill or transfer station, also known as littering and illegal dumping.

The Municipal District of Bonnyville Council recently passed a motion to increase the penalties for these environmentally harmful infractions up to a maximum of $2,000 per offence. The M.D. has 31 bin site locations and seven landfill transfer stations that residents can use at no charge. The goal of this strategy is to help ensure waste and recyclables are handled properly with the environmental impacts of what we do top of mind. Littering and abandoning items on the ground at bin sites, dead end roads, and at landfill gates are all forms of illegal dumping and have an environmental and financial impact.

So, how can we be better?

1. Put your waste in a bag, tie a knot in it, and put it in a household waste dumpster. Litter comes in many forms. Whether it is tossed out a vehicle window or was loosely put into a dumpster and then it blows out during the transfer process, it is still litter and if we bag it there will be less chance of it ending up in our ditches and fields. Waste is transferred three to four times before it leaves the M.D. for its final landfill destination and if it’s not bagged properly for the first transfer, it can easily end up as contamination in our neighbourhoods.
2. If you have something that doesn’t fit in a garbage bag, bring it to one of our landfill transfer stations and dispose of it properly. You might actually find out that it can be recycled. Many different items can be recycled these days including your old mattresses and over 600 types of household electric and battery powered items.
3. If it’s an item that has some life left in it, I encourage you to bring it to one of our seven landfill transfer stations and drop it off in the freecycle shed where someone else can make use of it. Please don’t abandon it on the ground at a bin site or landfill gate as it will be tossed out by one of our operators on their waste collection and clean up travels. Leaving items on the ground at the sites is a violation under the waste bylaw and also encourages others to do the same. What starts out as a couch turns into a mountain of garbage bags that we’ve all seen left on the ground for someone else to clean up, so you can understand why we want to deter this behaviour.

If you have something to dispose of and you’re not quite sure where it should go, you can always check out the waste location summary on our webpage or leave feedback on our Facebook page #WasteWednesday posts.

It’s #WasteWednesday again, so let’s talk about Ag Plastics recycling.

The M.D. of Bonnyville is one of 25 collection sites in the province for an ag plastic recycling pilot project for twine and grain bags. This pilot project began in the fall of 2019.

Bale wrap and net wrap, along with twine are still accepted at our landfill transfer stations, but the materials must meet two conditions: they must be in clear bags (which we supply), and the material must be clean.

We had our first shipment of twine sent off for recycling and unfortunately 47% of the shipment was landfilled due to it containing too much straw or the twine was mixed with net wrap.


Of the 2,950 kg (6,503 lbs) we had shipped, 1,400 kg (3,086 lbs) was landfilled.


We need to remember that materials have to be clean in order for them to be recycled and that needs to happen on the farm during collection in order for it to be an economical program.

Have questions? Want to get involved? Contact Waste Services Manager Brad Ollen at 780-826-3951.

Plastics are one of the hardest household recyclables to manage properly, not only because there are so many different types of plastic materials, but also because there is so much information to navigate.
Let’s start with the triangle logo on the bottom of plastics. This is not the recycling logo. It is the logo which designates the type of plastic that makes up the largest percentage of the material’s construction. It is very deceiving. Just because it has this triangle logo doesn’t mean it is going to be recycled. In fact, Recycle BC which leads the country in waste diversion and recycling programs, still only recycles 46% of all household plastics collected. Of these plastics, only 56% of rigid plastics are being recycled and only 22% of flexible packaging (bags, wraps, clamshells, etc.) are being recycled.Canada’s provincial recycling leader is still struggling with getting their household plastics recycled.
So now you’re asking how does this relate to the M.D. of Bonnyville right? Well, the plastics collection process for the M.D. is this:

1. Residents do their own sorting of materials and drop off into 6-yard bins at our transfer stations and bin sites
2. Then the garbage truck comes along on plastic recycling day, every three weeks or so, and empties the bins into the truck
3. Once the collection is complete the garbage truck then takes that load of plastic to the City of Cold Lake landfill site where it is baled at their recycling centre and sent off to be recycled.

The M.D.'s goal is to only collect and transfer items that are most likely to be recycled, because as we know, recycling is a commodity, and if plastics producers don’t want to buy the material then it ends up being landfilled down the road.
Recyclers can only hang onto materials for so long before they start to break down themselves or they run out of storage space. I’ve seen with my own eyes, very recently, semi-trailer loads of plastics from a recycling company in Edmonton being dumped in a landfill in Northern Alberta.
The M.D. has followed the lead of other large municipalities in the province such as Strathcona County and the City of Fort Saskatchewan to ask residents to recycle only hard rigid plastics. A few benefits of this are:

• The plastics we collect have a better chance of being recycled
• Residents don’t waste time sorting and rinsing plastics that are unlikely to be recycled
• Our transfer stations and bin sites will have less plastic littering the fences and bushes around the sites if the flexible packaging and plastic film products are disposed of in the bagged waste bins.