After seeing a significant drop in waste, which the City of Calgary attributes to the economic slump, schedule changes and layoffs are beginning this month.
Officials from Disposal and Processing Services said there just isn’t as much waste revenue compared to years prior, so they have to cut back on hours of operation starting Monday.
“Because of the current economic situation, city landfills have seen a significant drop in waste in the past year,” Corey Colbran, manager of Disposal and Processing Services, said. “This change will help make up for the lower revenue so we can be responsible with the money we get from citizens.
“In 2016, we anticipate that our revenue shortfall will be about $10.5 million and if we had done nothing, we would anticipate that would be very much the same or potentially worse in 2017 and 2018.”
Starting Monday, Jan. 9, schedules at the three city-run landfills are changing.
“The Shepard, East Calgary and Spyhill landfills will be moving to four-day per week operations,” Colbran said. “The schedules will be staggered, so that at least one site will be open every day, including Sundays and most statutory holidays.”
Matthew Dekort is a property manager and agrees with cutting costs, but said it’s going to be inconvenient.
“On the weekends I think (the East Calgary landfill) is going to be the only one open. The one guy here was anticipating a couple-hour wait time.”
Jean Pierre Baribeau does renovations and said it will add expenses to his business for fuel.
“If I have to go all the way to other end of the city, it will be a little bit more expensive.”
Hours at all sites will stay the same and will be open from 7:30 a.m. until 5 p.m.
The new schedules are as follows:
- East Calgary will be open Saturday to Tuesday
- Shepard will be open Tuesday to Friday
- Spyhill will be open Wednesday to Saturday
Calgarians are encouraged to check the City of Calgary website before their next visit to make sure their site will be open.
A number of city workers will also be out of a job in January because of the falling revenue at Calgary landfills.
Rick Valdarchi, director of Waste and Recycling, says the layoffs will impact 18 people.
Valdarchi says it’s because of a predicted revenue shortfall of $11 million in 2017.
“You’re looking at a 25 per cent reduction of staff on the sites, which is absolutely significant,” he said.
He says hours of operation will be scaled back to four days a week. Currently the landfill is open six days a week in winter and seven days in summer.
With files from News Talk 770 and Global’s Tony Tighe