City reminding residents about hazardous waste disposal after fire in garbage truck
By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on June 23, 2023.
LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com The City of Lethbridge is reminding residents not to put hazardous materials in any of the collection carts, following a recent fire in one of the garbage trucks.“Our waste collection, our garbage collection truck, was out on route and as they were collecting a black cart, (the driver) heard a large thump,” collections manager James Nicholls said Thursday during a news conference.
“All of our trucks are equipped with hopper cameras, so we have a little space for the material to fall into before it actually goes into the back of the truck, and so as soon as he heard that, he looked at his hopper camera and noticed this battery.”
Nicholls said the worker took quick action, but before he was able to stop the system, the battery broke open and created a small fire.
“He was able to have the fire extinguished on site, but still had to take the truck over to the fire department to actually deal with potential residuals, hotspots and things like that, so significant delay to the operation.”
He said if the material would have made its way into the main body of the truck, the whole truck would have caught fire and would have cost not only delays in waste collection, but also the usage of emergency resources and potentially waste of utility dollars.
“They’re called household hazardous waste for a reason, we have disposal sites for things like this, and we ask that people go to the waste and recycling centre. There’s also several local businesses that they can take batteries to and offer recycling. If they have any questions about what should be going in any of the three carts, they can go to the waste wizard, they can contact 311, and they can go on to the website,” said Nicholls.
He warns citizens that this type of careless disposal is taken very seriously, and could lead to a Bylaw infraction and the consequences associated with it.
Nicholls also wants residents to know the city is able to track where the waste is coming from as each truck has a GPS system that tracks every stop, and thanks to the hopper cameras they are able to match both to figure out which household bin contained the wrong type of waste.
“We can see pretty clearly where this battery came from when the collection occurred, what cart it came from, and the associated household that it came from. Just a word to the wise, we have the ability to see what’s coming out of these carts, it’s not an anonymous process.”
Nicholls reminds residents that carts need to be placed back on private property within 24 hours of collection according to a city Bylaw.
“Something that does come up is illegal dumping, so someone has their cart out behind their property, it’s especially prevalent in lane collection areas, people leave their cart out after collection is being completed. The problem with that is that you don’t know who’s going through that alleyway, you don’t know what they’re going to be carrying and putting into your waste receptacle, or your green cart or your blue cart.”
He said it is best to comply with the Bylaw, put the carts on private property and avoid potential liability for a fire caused by hazardous materials being dumped in a bin that is left on public property.
“There are Bylaw actions that can be taken.” Follow @APulidoHerald on Twitter 4
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