WESTLOCK - It may have been hosted in Westlock, but the 10th annual Alberta Coordinated Action for Recycling Enterprises (CARE) Spring Seminar was really a regional affair.
It was three days devoted to sharing innovations in the field of recycling and waste management and it all took place Feb. 26-28 at the Westlock Inn, with tours to sites around the surrounding area to showcase some of the work that is being done in our own backyard and beyond.
The Westlock Regional Waste Management Commission, a consortium of Town of Westlock, Westlock County and Village of Clyde representatives that oversee and operate the Westlock Regional Landfill, hosted the event that was chaired by WRWMC manager Tom Moore.
Alberta CARE’s mandate is to work in cooperation with different government organizations, industries, recycling groups and non-profit societies with the intent of increasing the viability of recycling initiatives in Alberta.
The seminar offered landfill managers, municipal politicians, operators, vendors, engineers and waste disposal companies, among others, an opportunity to network with colleagues from as far away as Manitoba. It also offered visitors to Westlock a glimpse into the local commission’s work to make the regional landfill the envy of those involved in the industry.
“We’ve got very good, positive feedback from everybody. It was a real success. People loved the community, they loved the venue and the tours we did,” said Moore, who along with being commission manager and chairman of the Alberta CARE board, also MC’d the event, which saw 135 visitors come to town.
Presentations from relevant businesses in the waste management and recycling fields were spaced out throughout the three days and included everything from optimizing landfill compaction and leachate evaporation technology to creating awareness about plastic issues.
Commission chair Curtis Snell, a Westlock town councillor, was there for every minute. He and Moore have been trying to attract an Alberta CARE conference for some time as a way to highlight the landfill and the way things are done out there.
“It’s good to have events like this in town just from an economic point-of-view and an exposure point-of-view for sure and I know we had lots to show,” said Snell.
Scattered throughout the seminar were various bus tours that took attendees to different locations and businesses throughout Westlock County and beyond who happen to be innovators in their field.
One such tour included checking in on the regional landfill facility with stops at the expanded on-site recycling centre and the new hydro vac pad, before taking in a drone demonstration involving the efficient compaction of waste in a landfill cell, which leads to financial savings over the long run as new cells can be delayed for several years if the trash is compacted correctly.
“They were amazed that such a small community or region would be doing so much,” said Moore. “They just couldn’t believe we were handling the plastic the way we were and how we were processing it and that we had a hydro vac pad.”
Snell too, said the feedback he received from that piece of the event has been overwhelmingly positive.
“Everyone was impressed,” he said. “Everyone was quite amazed at how organized and clean everything was out there.”
They were also impressed with the accessibility of the facility, he added.
The tour continued on to Neeralta Manufacturing for a demonstration of what that company is doing with grain bagging in Neerlandia. Then it was on to Dapp Power’s woody biomass plant. Attendees were also offered a chance to see the Canadian Tractor Museum and the Westlock Pioneer Museum during their stay.
That was all on Wednesday.
On Thursday, the seminar started early with presentations from the commission itself, Civil Tracker Land Survey, the Alberta Trappers Association, Full Circle Plastics and the Alberta Plastic Recycling Association before another bus tour.
Attendees were treated to visits to Eco Flex Rubber Products and the Van Brabant Used Oil Facility in Sturgeon County near Legal and Morinville, and then to the Alberta Trappers Association’s home base in the Westlock County industrial park on Highway 44.
“What I can say about all of these groups is all of them, when they were telling their stories, they were all very able to pivot with a market change, so they would change their product accordingly,” said Snell.
The industry is rife with innovation and innovators, as new people enter, bringing their ideas along. Networking opportunities abound, and Moore took full advantage of those opportunities, making contacts and formulating ideas of his own that could soon be applied to the regional landfill to increase efficiency and expand services though he wasn’t ready to announce them just yet.
“We’ve kind of moved into being at the forefront as a small facility and the place to watch as to what’s happening and where to go,” said Moore.
