Coronavirus: Social distancing means massive lineups at Winnipeg landfills, says city

Warm weather and a bit of extra time due to the COVID-19 pandemic meant lots of Winnipeggers were tackling long-overdue projects over the weekend — leading to massive lineups at city-run landfills and recycling facilities.

City of Winnipeg solid waste manager Michael Gordichuk told 680 CJOB on Monday that social distancing measures were a big reason behind the lines, especially at the Brady Road site, which houses a landfill and recycling depot.

“It’s not typical — I think it’s a combination of us having to make sure we’re practicing social distancing and enforcing certain restrictions with regard to how many people we allow into the facility at one at a time,” he said.

Gordichuk said the city has seen an overall increase in waste during the pandemic, due in large part to lifestyle changes caused by the novel coronavirus crisis.

“A lot of (the waste increase) has to do with the amount of time people are spending at home — they’re eating at home more — so we’re seeing an increase in that respect,” he said.

When it comes to moving Winnipeg’s recycling to market, Gordichuk said it’s been easy so far.

“The markets are actually fairly strong for the recycled material that we’re producing and the good news is that everything is being shipped within North America, so it’s actually surprisingly been very well for us.”