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City removes recycle depots

City removes recycle depots

usualstuff
Joined: Jun 2014
Posts: 57

usualstuff
Joined: Jun 2014
Posts: 57

City removes recycle depots
Oct 9 at 9:56 AM

Brandon City Council has voted in favor of closing all recycling depots in the city and requiring citizens to instead take their recyclables to the East Landfill site. The reasoning being that the current depots create litter and are contaminated by people dropping off items that are not recyclable. Possibly these are valid concerns but I fear the end result will be people recycling far less and/or dropping recyclable items in ditches, Discovery Centre, the river, etc. As an example, I just don't see people with a few bags of leaves driving all the way from the west end of Brandon to the landfill to drop them off.
The point of having a recycling system is to reduce waste and make the city "healthier". In my view, this is a backwards step.
Trustfall
Joined: Oct 2022
Posts: 144

Trustfall
Joined: Oct 2022
Posts: 144

Totally Agree But...
Oct 9 at 10:29 AM

I have seen first-hand the disgusting mess that people have left at the exhibition grounds depot. Garbage, mattresses, and broken furniture. And, those lids to the bins are never closed, allowing stuff to blow out. I agree that we will see more stuff dumped in the garbage, ditches, etc. It's a shame that people have abused it so much that it's going away without a better alternative.

Edited by Trustfall, 2025-10-09 10:30:57
Exhausted
Joined: This month
Posts: 1753

Exhausted
Joined: This month
Posts: 1753

Classic Case
Oct 9 at 10:55 AM

A few ruining for all.

unfortunately very true on many situations

I can see the reasoning but you are certainly right less recycling will go on as people aren't going to be driving all the way to Landfill.

Sad
usualstuff
Joined: Jun 2014
Posts: 57

usualstuff
Joined: Jun 2014
Posts: 57

Exactly
Oct 9 at 2:36 PM

The harder the City makes if for people to recycle, the less people will participate. Very shortsighted for a council that was patting itself on the back in the same meeting for voting to install charging stations for City EV vehicles. Great vision in one vote followed by zero common sense in the next.
Adam

Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 15663

Adam
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 15663

Depots
Oct 9 at 3:33 PM

Just to clarify, this doesn’t affect household recycling pickup. It’s the common drop off bins that get all kinds of random junk thrown in them and then likely take a lot of sorting time to separate the mattresses, TVs, broken glass and old wood from the cardboard et all they they’re meant for.

As far as the EV comment, mind clarifying the big thumbs down? Honestly for within city runs I think they seem ideal as long as the math adds up over the long haul when you factor in vehicle purchase price. Charge em up every few days on-site, never have to pay for gas or for anyone’s time to gas them up.

There’s been some wider misinfo/disinfo narrative spreading about EVs in general over the last few years but the tech is still coming more and more everyday. The main knock I can see is winter range for highway driving for *some* models, but as more and more vehicles have heat pumps in them and as battery tech gets better and better that’ll be a thing of the past soon too. Either way that doesn't really matter for vehicles that are spending their life around town, just charge overnight when they get into that 20-30% range if not sooner depending on daily usage patterns.
Mr E Of The Century
Joined: Jun 2019
Posts: 106

Mr E Of The Century
Joined: Jun 2019
Posts: 106

I am
Oct 9 at 3:54 PM

Not at all surprised by this. Another case of a small group doing a lot to ruin it for everyone else. If someone is responsible enough to purchase an item, they need to also be responsible enough to dispose of it properly, and that's one of the issues: too many spoiled, lazy and entitled people who throw mattresses, non recyclable garbage, and construction material in the bins. It's a hazard for city staff who have to sort through this, and a waste of tax dollars in having to take extra time to clean up those bin areas continually because of the few who think they are owed everything and refuse to take garbage to the landfill. Most of these people will complain about having to pay for dumping, but again, that is what responsibility of ownership involves. It's the immature ones who ruined this for us, and now, people are just going to be even lazier, and dump stuff in ditches even more, and I won't be surprised to see reports of people dropping stuff off in random yards. If people just committed to doing what's right, this never would have become an issue.
Trevor B

Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 8878

Trevor B
Joined: Apr 2005
Posts: 8878

Many use
Oct 9 at 4:44 PM

Mr E Of The Century said "Not at all surprised by this. Another case of a small group doing a lot to ruin it for everyone else. If someone is responsible enough to purchase an item, they need to also be responsible enough to dispose of it properly, and that's one of the issues: too many spoiled, lazy and entitled people who throw mattresses, non recyclable garbage, and construction material in the bins. It's a hazard for city staff who have to sort through this, and a waste of tax dollars in having to take extra time to clean up those bin areas continually because of the few who think they are owed everything and refuse to take garbage to the landfill. Most of these people will complain about having to pay for dumping, but again, that is what responsibility of ownership involves. It's the immature ones who ruined this for us, and now, people are just going to be even lazier, and dump stuff in ditches even more, and I won't be surprised to see reports of people dropping stuff off in random yards. If people just committed to doing what's right, this never would have become an issue. "
dump fees as an excuse, but go to any other city landfill and you will also have to pay to dump. I checked the rates for other landfills in Manitoba and at $7, we are the cheapest. Or see others say the landfill is too far out of town, where else do you want it? Some say they don't have a vehicle to take their garbage to the dump, yet are able to get it to the depots.

The main problem is that people are just plain lazy and want others to deal with their garbage.
Simonwalcal
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 839

Simonwalcal
Joined: Mar 2012
Posts: 839

. . .
Oct 9 at 4:51 PM

This is unfortunate. I've found myself using the bins at the keystone a time or 2 since the switch to bi-weekly recycling pickup since I live in a rooming house with 3 apartments but only 1 set of bins. One set was always I stretch even with weekly pick-up, let alone by weekly. But I can confirm that the keystone could become a disaster area with paper and cardboard blowing everywhere, not to mention to tires, wood and other crap people dumped.

At this point I'm not sure what I'll do with the extras. It was worth it to bring a little box or bag of materials when the depot was on between everywhere I had to be anyway. Not anymore.
usualstuff
Joined: Jun 2014
Posts: 57

usualstuff
Joined: Jun 2014
Posts: 57

Response to Adam’s post
Oct 9 at 5:18 PM

If you reread my comment, you will see that I didn’t “thumbs down” the EV charger decision. Quite the opposite. I applauded council’s foresight to install the chargers now but wanted to point out that in the same meeting that they made this forward thinking decision, they also made a decision that will surely reduce recycling in the city. Only Shawn Berry spoke up (he and Luebke are the common sense people on council) and asked council to spend some time rethinking this motion.
Adam

Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 15663

Adam
Joined: Mar 2005
Posts: 15663

EVs
Oct 9 at 5:51 PM

usualstuff said "If you reread my comment, you will see that I didn’t “thumbs down” the EV charger decision. Quite the opposite. I applauded council’s foresight to install the chargers now but wanted to point out that in the same meeting that they made this forward thinking decision, they also made a decision that will surely reduce recycling in the city. Only Shawn Berry spoke up (he and Luebke are the common sense people on council) and asked council to spend some time rethinking this motion. "
I’ll be damned, looks like I did read that wrong. Thumbs up to the thumbs up
vegimite
Joined: Sep 2018
Posts: 686

vegimite
Joined: Sep 2018
Posts: 686

Brandonites
Oct 9 at 6:33 PM

consider yourselves fortunate that you have a garbage disposal site fairly close.
As a rural resident I have a 35 mile round trip to dump recycling and household, and if I have anything else it is a 78 mile round trip (for furniture/white goods etc).
This is despite living four miles from a waste disposal site, who because I do not live in one of the contracted municipalities, will not accept my garbage/recycling even if I offer to pay.
Maybe Brandon's answer is to employ someone and have a locked compound, with cctv, open only at specified hours. Bays rather than bins, roofed where needed against wind etc. Could well be less expensive than having to employ more people to clear items not recyclable.
Just my two cents worth.

Edited by vegimite, 2025-10-09 18:35:44
Clubman15
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 216

Clubman15
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 216

Not
Oct 9 at 7:39 PM

Not surprised that there was litter everywhere, they were always overflowing. They could have been emptied more often would have helped too.
ManitobaGurl22
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 1292

ManitobaGurl22
Joined: Jun 2007
Posts: 1292

Thank god
Oct 10 at 6:50 AM

As a resident by 34th and Victoria I’m happy to hear this. I will not miss the :
1. Mess people leave Behind
2. Dumpster Divers at 3 am
3. Overland waster at 530am making so much noise

I’m excited to bring our neighbourhood back to a safer environment.

Thank you city of Brandon.

Edited by ManitobaGurl22, 2025-10-10 06:51:25