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McLennan adapts new solid waste disposal bylaw
Kevin Laliberte
Smoky River Express
The Town of McLennan has adopted a new solid waste collection bylaw which restricts the amount of household waste entering the landfill stream.
Bylaw 2005-03 was formally passed by council Jan. 10 after being given second and third readings based on an amendment to Section II (P), which made reference to restrictions for the disposal of human or animal excrement.
“This seems absolutely ridiculous to me,” said Councillor Catherine Dunne. “What are residents with newborns supposed to do with their used diapers?”
Council gave a similar reaction to the issue of animal excrement disposal (ie. used cat litter and dog excrement) and opted to delete the two references made in the bylaw based on a recommendation in the form of a motion from Coun. Gary Braithwaite.
The new bylaw places a four-bag cap on the allowable weekly waste disposal limit for residents in the community and coincides with a regional solid waste reduction blueprint administered by the Smoky River Regional Waste Management Commission.
One of the questions to surface from town council’s discussion of the bylaw came from Coun. Dwayne Stout, who enquired about the possibility of carrying over household waste from one week to the next if the four-bag limit was not met. He referred to a resident returning from a two-week vacation as a prime example.
“Is this individual permitted to put out, say, five or six bags the week they return to make up for the previous two weeks’ absence?” he asked.
Tammy Chavis, chief administrative officer for the town responded by saying that residential solid waste bag maximums could not be exceeded under any circumstances with the exception of situations where residents purchase a tag from the municipality.
The bylaw also supports a tag-a-bag solid waste collection structure.
“All additional bags above that maximum of four per week require a $1 tag (for each bag) which can be purchased from the town,” Chavis explained.
Revenue generated from the sale of tags is being used to offset the cost of the solid waste management service.
McLennan town council passed first reading of the bylaw, which focuses on the importance of recycling and re-using to reduce the overall amount of solid waste entering the regional landfill stream, on Dec. 13 of last year.
The four-bag per week restriction takes affect Feb. 1 of this year.
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