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Landfill, transfer stations stay on winter hours

Regional district encourages residents to avoid unnecessary visits
Landfill web

The Regional District of Fraser-Fort George announced on Wednesday it is maintaining its winter hours at the Quinn Street Recycling Depot and Vanway transfer station for another month.

Regional district manager of waste diversion Laura Zapotichny said the facilities would normally move to their summer schedule in April. The Valemount, McBride and Mackenzie transfer stations will also maintain their winter hours, while the Foothills Regional Landfill will continue operating during its normal hours. 

The winter hours for the district's solid waste facilities can be found online here https://rdffg.bc.ca/services/environment/solid-waste-management/transfer-station-winter-hours.

However, Zapotichny said, the regional district is urging residents to avoid non-essential trips to the landfill and transfer stations during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

"Last Thursday, the provincial government... listed solid waste services as an essential service. We're working through what that means," she said. "Obviously we want to encourage people to dispose of these materials properly. (But) we want people to be thinking if they need to come visit us."

If you need to replace your fridge and have a place in a carport or garage to temporarily store the old fridge, that is a good example of a landfill trip that could be postponed until the province lifts its public health measures, she said

In March the Foothills landfill was seeing an average of 120 non-commercial vehicles arriving per day, which is about normal for that time of year.

"We had a late spring and a cold spring, and that's helped us out a little bit," Zapotichny said. "We're going into our busy season, regardless of COVID-19. April and May are our busiest months."

One concern is that people will use the extra time they have at home to do spring cleaning and renovation projects, creating a lot of additional material and additional trips to the landfill, she said. If there is surge of additional users, the regional district could be forced to make additional changes to service levels at the landfill and transfer stations.

In addition, the regional district is enforcing social distancing measures at its facilities.

"We're asking people to use credit and debit cards if possible," she said. "At Vanway, we're asking people to bring exact change because it's a coin-operated system. That way staff don't have to make change."

Landfill staff will be limiting the number of people onsite at one time to allow distancing between people using the bin, Zapotichny said, so residents can expect some additional delays.

The Prince George Return It Center has closed due to COVID- 19, along with the Elks Bottle Depot in Mackenzie. Information about what bottle depots remain open can be found online at visit www.return-it.ca.

“The Regional District understands how important it is to have the landfills and transfer stations open to serve the public," Zapotichny said. "We hope with the public’s co-operation we can make our facilities safer for everyone and reduce unnecessary pressure put on our sites during this challenging time."