New waste collector is ‘ready to go’
GFL vows to help Niagara reach 65% diversion goal
There might be a few bumps along the way, as Green For Life (GFL) Environmental’s trucks begin travelling the streets of Niagara communities in a few weeks.
But GFL general manager Dave Vieira is confident the 68 people the company has hired for the job will be up to the challenges, as residents get used to changes that begin Oct. 19 — moving to biweekly collection of up to two trash containers, while continuing with weekly collection of organic and recyclable waste.
“In the beginning it will be a learning curve, and we’re prepared for that,” Vieira said. “Our guys are going to have to educate the residents and we’ll do our best to help them out. But we’ll get there.”
Niagara Region unveiled GFL’s new Glendale Avenue location Wednesday, as well as the compressed natural gasburning vehicles the company will use to serve the communities of Grimsby, Lincoln, Pelham, Thorold, Wainfleet and West Lincoln.
GFL is one of Niagara’s two new waste collection contrac
tors.
Miller Waste Systems, which unveiled its fleet of vehicles last week, will serve the people of St. Catharines, Niagara Falls, Welland, Fort Erie, Niagara-onthe-Lake and Port Colborne.
As Niagara strives for a 65 per cent rate of diverting waste from landfill sites Region Chair Jim Bradley said biweekly trash pickup and the new contractors will help Niagara meet that goal.
“Some people say it’s ambitious. I don’t think it is,” Bradley
said. “I’m confident we can achieve that through the measures that we’re taking.”
GFL chief executive officer Patrick Dovigi, who founded the company in 2007, said “any resource in our power will be used” to ensure Niagara’s waste diversion targets are met.
“We’re extremely excited about this opportunity to come and provide the service that every resident in the region of Niagara deserves,” Dovigi said.
Vieira said GFL’s crews were formerly employed by the Re
gion’s outgoing waste collection contractor, Emterra Environmental.
“Everyone was obviously worried about their jobs, and we’re keeping that work going. We’re fully ready to go manpowerwise,” he said.
The company will be operating 31 new Freightliner trucks, each fuelled by compressed natural gas rather than diesel fuel that’s typically used in the industry.
Vieira said GFL has been using compressed natural gas in its trucks for years.
“It’s just cleaner and better for the environment and that’s what Patrick’s vision is,” he said.
Although diesel fuel is much cleaner than it used to be, Vieira said it still produces far more harmful emissions than natural gas.
The choice of fuel has benefited another Niagara business — Envoy Energy of Fort Erie.
At about $400,000 each, the new trucks were substantially more expensive than the dieselfuelled vehicles Miller purchased.
Adding the infrastructure to fuel the vehicles at the company’s operations centre on Glendale Avenue was a “substantial” investment, too.
But in addition to the environmental benefits of using compressed natural gas, Envoy Energy president James Ro said it’s up to about 40 per cent cheaper than diesel.
“Natural gas is not for everybody, but the more volume you consume on a daily basis with that fuel cost savings you can make that pay back sooner. Typically, for anyone who chooses to switch and make that investment in natural gas, it has to be a less than five-year payback,” he said.