A representative of Waste Management, although unable to attend a St. Ignace City Council meeting as planned Monday, May 1, has assured city officials that the company is properly handling recyclable materials. The discussion was initiated by questions about the company's practices presented to council by city attorney Prentiss M. Brown at an earlier meeting. City Council and Waste Management will meet May 15 to discuss the issue further.

St. Ignace Mayor Paul Grondin told council that Waste Management District Director Daryl Proulx, who oversees waste pick-up and handling in St. Ignace, Newberry, and Sault Ste. Marie, was unable to make this meeting, however, Mr. Proulx will meet with council May 15, at council's next regular meeting, to shore up any concerns Mr. Brown or Waste Management customers may have about the company's recycling process.

Toward the end of council's regular meeting Monday, April 17, Mr. Brown asked Council to address complaints about Waste Management having irregular open hours and not properly disposing of recycled items.

The St. Ignace News visited Waste Management's transfer station on Cheeseman Road in St. Ignace Wednesday, April 19, as did Mayor Grondin and City Manager Eric Dodson to see the company's recycling system first-hand.

Mr. Proulx said there can be no cutting corners in this business.

"Waste Management is very, very picky," said Mr. Proulx. "We have strict regulations. We have to do things in a particular way, for health and safety requirements, and for economic reasons."

Mr. Proulx explained that recycled items are picked up every second and fourth Wednesday of each month in St. Ignace. Each Wednesday and Friday, his main truck driver, Todd Insley, picks up refuse from about 17 commercial garbage bins, while Tuesdays and Thursdays are for residential pickups.

"People may be confused because we do pick up garbage and recycled items with the same truck and on the same day [Wednesdays] but not at the same time," he said.

Mr. Insley said each second and fourth Wednesday of the month, he picks up recycled items and hauls the load back to the transfer station, where it is dumped on the transfer station floor, cleared of any nonrecycled items, and then scooped up by a backhoe and placed in its own separate dumpster. Mr. Insley then begins his garbage pick-up route.

Once five bins of recycled items are filled, they are transferred into receiver bins, which have individual sections that can be filled with both cardboard and other recycled items separately. Mr. Proulx said the bin is hauled to the Chippewa County recycling center in Sault Ste. Marie.

The company consolidates trips to Sault Ste. Marie to save on truck fuel, Mr. Proulx said.

As for open hours on the weekend, Mr. Proulx said the transfer station used to be open on Saturday but the majority of requests have been for more open hours on weekdays.

From April to September, the transfer station is open from 9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. On Wednesdays, it is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. It is closed on Saturdays.

Mr. Insley told Mayor Grondin and Mr. Dodson that Waste Management has always posted its open hours at the facility and through the newspaper, however, he pointed out that the city's community television channel did not have the updated information. Mr. Dodson said that will be remedied.

As for the city owning the building, Mr. Brown reiterated his April 17 statement the building's deed is in the hands of Waste Management, however, it has many restrictions on it.

"They have the deed, but the city has the right to buy it if they ever bug out," Mr. Brown told Council.

Waste Management employee Todd Insley dumps in a load of recycled items during his routine recycled items pick-up day, Wednesday, April 26. The company picks up recycled items in St. Ignace every second and fourth Wednesdays of the month. Mr. Insley also collects refuse from commercial bins on Wednesdays, however, it is after he has unloaded the recycled items he collected from residents.

Waste Management District Director Daryl Proulx shows one of five bins loaded with recycled items collected from residential neighborhoods in St. Ignace. Once the five bins of recycled items and cardboard are filled, the loads are then transferred to a recycling center in Sault Ste. Marie.