The Town of Altona hopes another change to its annual town-wide spring clean-up will bring increased awareness to the waste diversion loop at the local landfill.

For the last few years, a temporary waste drop-off loop was set up at the Millenium Exhibition Centre (MEC) for a few days, allowing residents to dispose of certain unwanted items. This already differed from previous years where the Public Works crew would drive around town and collect it at the curb.  

Public Works Manager, Clint Derksen, says a majority of what's disposed of during the clean-up week can be dropped off at the landfill's waste diversion loop year-round, free of charge. That includes things like scrap metal, used tires and batteries, appliances, mattresses and box springs, used oil and coolant.

"You don't have to stockpile for one week (in the year)," said Derksen. "If you can get to the landfill, it's all available there."

While the previous set up at the MEC worked well, noted Derksen, it did come with one hiccup. 

"There was lots of after-hours dumping, which wouldn't be the end of the world, but it was unpatrolled, and a lot of materials went into waste streams that don't accept them," he explained. For example, metal would get dumped into household waste, or recycling into metal. "That basically deemed all of that waste to go in the cell unless we sorted it. It was a bit of a nightmare every morning when we went there and saw this huge mess that we need to then sort through."

He noted, to host the drop-off at the waste diversion loop already set up at the landfill seemed like a natural progression. "If you can get your waste the MEC, you can also likely get it to the landfill."

During the week of June 5th-10th, residents will also be able to drop off their non-divertible waste free of charge. 

"We're going to get a piece of paper to every household in town, they'll show that at the scale and the guys at the scale will know they aren't charging for that load," explained Derksen. "They just have to show that piece of paper and that's their entry ticket."

As always, construction waste and shingles are not included in spring clean-up, and the relevant tipping fees will need to be paid if you're dropping off those items. 

In order to facilitate these changes, the landfill hours will be extended during the week of June 5th-10th and open an extra day. 

"We want to make it as accessible as possible," said Derksen. 

Meantime, the Town's annual Giveaway Days are slotted for May 27th and 28th. Items left behind after those days are to be cleaned up no later than 7 a.m. the following Monday. 

Branch pickup is happening June 8th and 9th.