Landfill hours to change again amid budget constraints
Area councillor vows to fight plan to close Shepard site to residential clients
The largest number of questions we’d get through 311 … was what site was actually open on what day.
A year after introducing new hours at Calgary’s three landfills, the city is again making scheduling changes that include closing the Shepard Landfill to residential customers — a move the area councillor plans to fight.
Ward 12 Coun. Shane Keating said he was disappointed to hear that effective Feb. 5, 2018, the Shepard Landfill will only be open for industrial waste customers, and all other residential and commercial vehicles will be redirected to the Spyhill or East Calgary landfills.
“I’ve told them I will not accept this and I’ll see what I can do to change it,” Keating said.
“We’re talking about the busiest quadrant of the city … as far as construction and new development, and they’re saying, ‘You have to leave this area and go farther north to dispose of spring cleanup, etc.’”
Last year, the city slashed landfill hours and laid off staff amid falling operating revenue, but the shift from seven days a week of operation to four (with hours staggered so at least one landfill was open every day of the week) resulted in long lines, a flood of complaints and a spike in illegal dumping.
“We heard the staggered schedule was quite difficult for people to adjust to. The largest number of questions we’d get through 311 … was what site was actually open on what day,” said Jasna Hundal, manager of disposal and processing at the city.
Beginning in February, the Shepard Landfill will be open to industrial waste customers four days a week, from Tuesdays to Fridays, while the other two landfills will see increased hours of operation in response to the confusion and complaints brought forward in 2017.
Effective Feb. 5, the Spyhill and East Calgary landfills will be open six days per week, from Monday through Saturday, and the East Calgary facility will also open Sundays during the peak season between April and October.
Hundal said the decision on the Shepard Landfill was a juggling act between budget constraints and service expectations.
“We came up with this concept of really focusing on two sites — one in the north, one for the south,” she said.
The East Calgary landfill is a 14-kilometre drive from the Shepard site on Stoney Trail S.E.
“Like with any change, we expect we will hear feedback, probably both positive and negative,” Hundal said of the looming changes.