CANORA - During his 2025 New Year Message in The Canora Courier, Mayor Mike Kwas reported that, “As costs are increasing, some municipal services may not be sustainable in the long term.”
That was followed by council’s decision at the Jan. 21 regular meeting “to discontinue municipal garbage and recycling collection services for commercial properties as soon as appropriate arrangements can be made in 2025.”
Chief Administrative Officer Michael Mykytyshyn said this decision is the result of the upcoming landfill closure scheduled for 2025.
“Currently, all garbage collected in Canora is dumped into the Canora landfill,” said Mykytyshyn. “Once the landfill is closed and the transfer station is operational, all refuse will need to be hauled away to another landfill. The transfer station is not set up to accommodate commercial end-dump trucks or trailers. This requires specialized equipment, the material would still have to be hauled away, and there was no advantage to costs in the long-term.”
Currently, the town collects commercial garbage with its own truck. Once the landfill closes, it will not be able to deposit in town and is not suitable for highway hauling to another site.
“Once the town discontinues commercial service, businesses will have the option of self-haul to the transfer station or making arrangements with a contractor for garbage and recycling collection services,” Mykytyshyn said. “While this may seem like a big change, some contractors can tailor receptacle sizes to limit the number of pickups and this may actually provide additional flexibility for some businesses. There is also the possibility of securing containers to ensure no one else is able to deposit material or inappropriate material into someone else’s receptacle. This setup is common in larger centres and other towns are headed in this direction as well. For example, Swan River just made the same change in 2024.”
Mykytyshyn added that timelines for the opening of the transfer station and changes regarding commercial garbage collection have not been set.
“Hauling contracts for the transfer station and residential collection have to be finalized and commercial property owners will require reasonable notice before any changes are made,” he concluded.
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