The Municipality of Jasper is looking into the feasibility of taking over the operations of the transfer station.

Currently, the transfer station is run by Parks Canada. Municipal Manager George Krefting asked Council for approval to “enter into discussion for operating the transfer station” at last Tuesday’s (Feb. 2) Council meeting.

According to Krefting, if the municipality does not enter into discussions with Parks, they will simply call for proposals to take over the operations.

Coun. Ralph Melnyk noted that by allowing a third party to take over control, the municipality would have no say in what it would cost and highlighted that, as the town is the primary user “whatever profits will come will be from the municipality and private users.”

Presently, the town accounts for 64 per cent of solid waste at the transfer station, as well as storing its recyclables and composting operations on site.

The next largest user is the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge (FJPL) who accounts for 23 per cent of the waste.

Coun. Rico Damota suggested involving FJPL in the consultation. Krefting agreed and said FJPL would be engaged from the beginning.

Krefting told Council that the positives of taking over the operations included having more operational control, which could result in more efficient use and thus, less costs and the ability to use more space for recycling and composting programs.

However, he highlighted the fact that everything would become subject to Alberta Environment Standards. While he suggested the municipality normally exceeds any standards set by the agency, it would now be an entirely new set of standards.

Coun. Melnyk questioned where the legalities would lie as far as any environmental concerns rising from the pit section of the station – which Parks Canada is currently in the process of decontaminating.

While environmental services manager Ken Quackenbush said it would fall under new provincial legislation as a ‘transfer station’ and not a waste station, Mayor Richard Ireland suggested this was an important aspect to investigate thoroughly.

The financial benefits of taking over operations were also discussed, as presently Parks Canada subsidizes the costs of residential waste that is then transferred to the Hinton landfill.

According to Parks Canada, current operating expenses are about $555,000 and revenue is just $234,000.

Quackenbush suggested that user costs would need to be brought in line with that of Hinton, which currently sit at $43/tonne of mixed sorted waste, and $120/tonne for unsorted whereas Jasper currently charges $35/tonne for general waste, $33/tonne for Municipal waste and $55/tonne for FJPL and unsorted waste.

Another suggestion put forward was increasing the gate costs of accessing the transfer station, to help the municipality deal with the operational costs.

Mayor Ireland was in strong favour of Krefting and administration entering into discussions about the transfer station. “You should go for it,” he said.

However, he reinforced the legalities of the situation and emphasized the importance of investigating previous cases that he has heard of in British Columbia.

One suggestion he had was to move the transfer station, which he said would be quite easy, to another position – such as the site adjacent to the ATCO power plant.

“There is a lot of heat energy wasted at the power plant,” he said, “we could use the heat for energy for our compost... and it would be away from contamination issues.”

Krefting agreed and said he would investigate alternatives that would ensure the transfer station would run more “efficiently, and effectively.”