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Three FRMA-run campgrounds set to close

Masha Scheele
reporter@hintonvoice.ca

Three campgrounds run by the Foothills Recreation Management Association (FRMA) within Yellowhead County are scheduled to close.

Those campgrounds include Little Sundance group campground, Brown Creek campground, and the Brazeau River campground.

West Fraser is a founding member of the FRMA, which currently maintains and manages 20 different campgrounds within the Hinton Forest Management Area, located near Hinton, Edson, Robb, and Cadomin.

West Fraser was asked by the provincial government whether it made sense to close any of the campgrounds they managed.

Little Sundance group campground closed this year, which is located near the Emerson Lakes.

It was an extremely low use group campground with roughly three group bookings per year, said Aaron Jones, management forester of West Fraser.

“We were charging $100 per group and we would be collecting in revenue like $300 to $400 per year and that really didn’t even cover the gas to go out there,” Jones said.

Jones added that it was a fairly popular camping spot before the government cracked down on driving quads in and out of provincial campgrounds, as it served as a staging area for ATV users. When quad use became more strict, roughly 20 years ago, the use of the campground dropped off quickly.

Due to low use, FRMA changed the campground into a group campground five years ago and maintained the area when someone booked it.

But due to low use and high maintenance costs, West Fraser suggested they close it.

Jones explained that when the government announced they were looking to close some low use campgrounds or enter into private agreements with someone to run them, West Fraser also suggested the closures of both the Brown Creek campground and the Brazeau River campground.

“It’s for the same reasons, they are very remote campgrounds,” Jones said.

It takes roughly two hours to drive to those campgrounds from Hinton on the forestry trunk road.

Brown Creek campground wasn’t used much, according to Jones, and there were some additional issues like a washed out road.

“We asked to close those next year so we could provide a bit of a warning to the people who were using it,” Jones said.

“There will still be infrastructure there, there will be picnic tables and the outhouse as well. It will be a user maintained campground, it won’t cost anything but it’s not going to be actively maintained.”

He mentioned that many campgrounds in British Columbia are turning into user-maintained sites, which include the bare amenities like a picnic table and fire pit.

If Alberta’s campgrounds are left with bare amenities, Jones believes people will continue to use them.

This means FRMA won’t be cleaning any of the sites or delivering free firewood.

All other FRMA maintained campgrounds will remain open in the Hinton and Edson areas.

“The government is extremely happy with the relationship we have with them and the way that we maintain those campgrounds at a really high standard and provide free firewood,” Jones said.

“They don’t want anything to happen to that partnership so the public can be assured that all those popular campgrounds we look after are not getting shut down.”

The provincial government announced in early 2020 that nine campgrounds in Alberta would be completely closing with another 11 partially closing and 164 to be handed off to third-party managers.

Those closures meant transferring the sites to the public lands system.

Seventeen of the closures were halted in the response to COVID-19, but will be transferred to the public lands system in the future and remain accessible to all Albertans.

“We will operate the 17 parks’ sites previously identified for closure this season because we want to give Albertans more opportunities to camp and connect with nature over the summer as we all recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a temporary measure for this camping season,” stated the Alberta Parks website.

While 121 parks have been handed over to third-party managers and the government continues to seek out partnerships, sites where no partnership is found will transfer from the parks system to the public lands system. 

They will remain accessible to the public for responsible recreation and enjoyment.

The nearest closure to Hinton will be Sheep Creek Provincial Recreation Area north of Grande Cache and the partial closure of Smoky River South Provincial Recreation Area west of Grande Cache.

This means the partial closures of Bow Valley Provincial Park, Gooseberry Provincial Recreation Area, and Dinosaur Provincial Park are still going ahead this year.

“There are no permanent closures of parks or campgrounds in the Hinton area, current or planned,” said John Muir, director of communications for Alberta Environment and Parks (AEP).

There has been a lot of misinformation about parks circulating recently, including claims that park lands are being sold or closing to the public, Muir added.

Parks are not for sale, but the province is open to working with more partners in parks, like municipalities, Indigenous communities, and nonprofits. 

The provincial government currently has agreements with groups across Alberta to manage 121 sites of recreation and day-use area facilities, campgrounds, concessions, and trail maintenance to support enjoyable visitor experiences. 

“Sites will continue to be accessible to the public for responsible recreation and enjoyment. More information about partners will be announced in the future,” Muir said.

For more information on provincial parks, head to albertaparks.ca/albertaparksca/visit-our-parks/find-a-park/

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Boutin Ave Design charrette results in site plan

Masha Scheele
Local Journalism Initiative

Following a design charrette, the Town of Hinton presented a final site plan to the public and local stakeholders for the undeveloped town-owned lands at the intersection of Boutin Ave and Drinnan Way.

Local stakeholders and the public were invited to attend the four day charrette in which they provided input and feedback for the three lots.

The design team, V3 Companies of Canada, created four options for the area based on the input from stakeholder groups.

The preferred design option that resulted from the charrette includes tiny homes, semi-detached units, town houses, a multi purpose facility, a four storey multi-unit, a professional centre, a commercial retail unit, a storage facility, a future multi-unit, trees, a playground, an amphitheatre, a community garden, and outdoor active exercise.

The estimated construction cost will be determined this August, and a pro forma will be developed in August and September. A pro forma analysis is a set of calculations that projects the financial return that a proposed real estate development is likely to create.

A report will be created at the same time, which will be presented to council in October or November.

To fund public services, municipalities have two main avenues, including taxation and funding through grants from other levels of government.

“As funding and grants from other levels of government are difficult to predict and rely on external factors, municipalities rely heavily on residential and non-residential taxation to fund all the services in their communities,” stated the Aug. 18 council information package.

Residential development is subsidized by non-residential development on an average of three to one, it read. 

The preferred site plan includes affordable housing, which is defined by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) as households that spend less than 30 per cent of its gross income on acceptable shelter, including utilities and fees. Acceptable shelter is defined as housing that is adequate in condition, suitable in size, and is affordable, added the information package.

Public input addressed a need for 55+ housing, multi-purpose centre, trail connections, community gardens, public spaces, affordable housing, intergenerational housing, diversity of housing stock, multi unit housing, choices in housing options, and a connection with Pine Valley Seniors development.

The three parcels along Boutin Ave are surrounded by a range of matured developments, with the exception of the lands extending south and southeast of the site.

In total, the project site area is 4.77 hectares or 11.78 acres.

The parcels are currently districted Urban Node Commercial (C-NOD) and Medium to High Density Multiple Dwelling Residential District (R-M2), which means they are intended for a wide variety of retail commercial and office uses at higher densities, and a variety of medium to high density housing.

The area is well connected to the existing commercial amenities through both pedestrian and road networks, as well as the existing trail system.

“It is anticipated that the existing roadways can handle the traffic generated from the three parcels,” stated the Aug. 18 council information package.

The area does not have any on site servicing, however, there are tie in connections to water and sanitary sewer nearby, as well as Fiber Optics, power, and gas.

Five new hydrants are required to meet the maximum hydrant spacing requirements.

There are some portions of the land that have steep slopes, which poses challenges related to accessibility.

Some of the challenges addressed during the charrette were site constraints versus cost of development and reaching affordability of housing stock.

Site constraints included transmission pipeline easement, power line easement, shape of parcel, restrictive covenant, elevation of land, cost of land, and no servicing along Boutin Ave or Drinnan Way.

A report that will come to Council in September that will provide more detail on next steps, stated CAO Emily Olsen.

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Evergreens Foundation takes over bus services

Masha Scheele
Local Journalism Initiative

The Evergreens Foundation has agreed to take over accessible transportation services for residents with mobility limitations, previously offered by the Freedom Express bus.

The Town of Hinton entered into an agreement with Evergreens to provide an annual financial contribution towards this service, based on the Freedom Express model.

In turn the Town-provided Freedom Express Transportation Service will be eliminated.

Coun. Trevor Haas clarified that the service would remain the same under the operation of Evergreens.

“Within the agreement, the minimum requirements are the 21 hours of service that the service has to run. That’s just the minimum service within the agreement, they absolutely can go above and beyond from that,” said Caryn Bouchard, Family and Community Support Services (FCSS) Manager.

There is room for future growth through the agreement.

While the conversation around the transition hasn’t gone in depth, Bouchard stated that they will attempt to create the easiest possible transition for residents, which would include honouring previously purchased passes.

“This is the future of municipalities, especially our size, is partnering up whether it’s regionalization or working with partners in our community,” said Mayor Marcel Michaels.

He added that this puts the community in a better position from a taxpayer and service-delivery perspective.

This decision was in response to a departmental budget reduction to the FCSS of $75,000.

Those savings come from the transfer of the Freedom Express Services to an external agency, a restructure to the core FCSS team, and the development of the Hinton Family Resource Centre.

After consulting multiple agencies, administration identified Evergreens as a community agency interested in taking over the delivery of the bus service.

Evergreens is equipped with the expertise and bussing equipment to most easily assume this transfer of service.

Town Administration and Evergreens Administration developed a proposed agreement wherein the Town would provide a financial contribution of $25,000 per year to enable Evergreens to assume the delivery of accessible, door-to-door transportation for residents with unique mobility limitations that cannot be accommodated by the Public Transit System. 

Based on the current Freedom Express Service model, it would include similar rates, eligibility criteria, and hours of operation. 

The Agreement was presented In-Camera to Town Council at the July 21, 2020 Standing Committee Meeting.

Following that meeting, a direction was made to recommend Council to enter into an agreement with Evergreens as presented In-Camera, which was carried unanimously.

The approval of the agreement with Evergreens initiates Administration’s overall restructure of the FCSS department.

The core FCSS team will move from four positions, made up of two full-time and two part-time, to three full time positions.

Due to the limited cost savings in the 2020 year, the full service and position review will not be fully actualized until January of 2021. 

These changes will also prompt the development of a Hinton Family Centre.

With the closure of Parent Link due to the elimination of provincial funding in March, 2020, there has been a significant community gap identified in the area of services for young families. 

An application was submitted through the provincial Family Resource Network to continue key services for young families. 

FCSS received one quarter of the funding requested, and the reduced funding was awarded by the province for the Town of Hinton to offer Caregiver Education Services.

To fill the gap, administration identified the reintroduction of services for young families as a key priority within FCSS’s mandate of providing preventative social support to the community. 

The FCSS Coordinator, Community Connection, the FCSS Coordinator, Family Life, and the Caregiver Education Coordinator will collaboratively provide these services to ensure families have access to the engagement opportunities, relationship-building activities, and educational resources that will enhance comprehensive family support.

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Bighorn Trail will have three downhill options

Photo by Aaron Jones
Bighorn trail

Masha Scheele
reporter@hintonvoice.ca

The Bighorn Trail will not just be made into one loop to the ridge and down, but will have three different downhill options.

Two are being cleared by West Fraser and professional trail builder Jay Hoots, while another downhill trail is being built by the Hinton Mountain Bike Association (HMBA) and contractor Nathan Froehler of Creating Flow Trail Designs.

HMBA raised funds to build a downhill trail starting part way up the Bighorn uphill trail.

“We opted for a flow trail. They have really good dirt out there and enough elevation and the right kind of grade planned out that will make for a fun roller coaster type trail,” said Froehler.

The 1.2 kilometre blue-rated flow trail will have an elevation of 100m with jumps and berms and is completely machine built with a mini excavator.

Many volunteers have helped out and community sponsors have donated tools, fuel, and offered great rates on machinery rentals.

“It’s been a real community effort. It’s been tough making things happen but people come together and make it work,” said Froehler.

Froehler was born and raised in Hinton and spent a lot of time building and maintaining trails in the area, including the Halloween Trail behind Hinton and at the Nordic Centre.

He explained that there are basically two mountain bike trails; tech trails and flow trails.

A flow trail is generally a smooth dirt surface, with not a lot of rocks or roots like a tech trail would have.

While it’s a bit of a climb to get up there, most people with a general fitness level can do it, Froehler said.

“It’s a really nice climb they’re building right now. Hoots is building that climb trail to the top of Bighorn, which is an average grade of five per cent or something so it’s quite a mellow climb but it will still take a bit of work,” Froehler said.

The blue downhill flow trail is great for intermediate mountain bikers but can be adaptable for many skill levels, including advanced riders, Froehler said.

Froehler’s downhill trail is expected to be finished by the end of the season and should be ready by the fall.

“It won’t be until the end of the season but we should be good to go,” Froehler said.

West Fraser finished the first downhill portion from the Bighorn ridge last year, including a small portion of the uphill trail.

The uphill portion is now halfway completed and West Fraser, who is funding that project, hopes to complete the uphill portion this year.

The uphill trail will be 11 kilometres to the Bighorn ridge, followed by the five-kilometre downhill trail.

The project includes a price tag of $500,000 and is being built by the nine member Vancouver-based Hoots Bike Parks crew.

The Hoots crew has also been busy with other projects throughout the summer, but are expected to be back at work in Hinton this season.

The few crew members working right now bike their way up to the worksite each day, but the public isn’t allowed on the trail quite yet.

With machinery and equipment left on the trail, Aaron Jones, management forester of West Fraser, explained that they have to be careful with the public going on unfinished trails and into active worksites.

Kiosks, signage, garbage cans, tables, and other finishing touches also still need to be put up.

Jones added that there could be a possible soft opening this year depending on whether any portions can be opened to the public.

West Fraser’s second downhill trail is slightly less technical than the original downhill trail.

This trail is expected to be finished by the end of this year and will provide a 10-kilometre loop, starting part way on the Bighorn uphill trail as well.

Other future plans by West Fraser include building a trail all along the Bighorn Ridge and connecting the epic Bighorn trail to town trails.

Jones explained that while there is a trail along the ridge, it’s not currently ideal for mountain biking.

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Drug trafficking investigation results in several charges

Charges have been laid by RCMP following an investigation initiated Aug. 9  into the trafficking of cocaine in the Town of Hinton.

Evidence was obtained in this investigation and on Aug. 12 a vehicle stop was conducted on Macleod Avenue. This stop resulted in the seizure of 27 grams of cocaine, 15 grams of methamphetamine, and just under 1 gram of heroin. 

Drug paraphernalia, multiple cell phones, and $490 in Canadian currency was seized as well.

Derek Michael Thompson, age 39, is charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking cocaine, possession for the purpose of trafficking methamphetamine, trafficking in cocaine and possession of stolen property.

Laura Lamouche, aged 38, is charged with possession of cocaine and possession of methamphetamine.

Two other individuals had multiple arrest warrants executed as part of this investigation.

Cody Mcintosh, age 36, was arrested on his multiple outstanding warrants for 19 offences including drive while disqualified, break and enter and assault causing bodily harm.

Haley Sjovold, age 27, was arrested on outstanding warrants for driving offences.

Thompson, Lamouche, and Sjovold have been released on bail to attend court in Hinton. 

Mcintosh remained in custody as bail had not been spoken to. The seizure of these drugs has a direct impact on the community and further sends a message that drug trafficking will not be tolerated in the Town of Hinton, reads a press release from the RCMP.

*Editor’s note: The initial RCMP press release which was published on our Facebook page incorrectly  stated Haley Sjovold had outstanding warrants for possession of cocaine and theft under $5,000. The RCMP have since corrected that statement to her only having warrants for driving offences and have apologized for the error.

– Filed by Voice Staff

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RCMP investigate arson at St. Gregory School

Tyler Waugh Photo
Emergency crews responded to a late night fire response call Aug. 17 at St. Gregory School that the Hinton RCMP is calling an act of arson. There was also graffiti painted on the school, including what’s shown in the image below.

Tyler Waugh
news@hintonvoice.ca

Hinton RCMP are asking for public assistance in the investigation of a late-night fire Aug. 17 at the St. Gregory School on Rispler Avenue.

Emergency crews – including three fire trucks, multiple RCMP cruisers, and an EMS vehicle – responded to a complaint of a fire on the roof of the school at 11:54 pm.

The fire was extinguished and nobody was injured, in an incident that the Hinton RCMP are calling arson.

The investigation revealed that a number of youth were in the area as early as 11:20 pm and graffiti, some of which were of a graphic and offensive nature, was also painted on the school around that time.  

Hinton RCMP are asking the public’s assistance for any information in relation to this incident or identifying those responsible. 

Please contact Hinton RCMP at (780) 865-2455. If you wish to remain anonymous, you can contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS), online at www.P3Tips.com or by using the “P3 Tips” app available through the Apple App or Google Play Store.”

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Girl, 10, killed in highway collision

Masha Scheele
Local Journalism Initiative

A 10-year-old Edmonton girl was killed the morning of Aug. 18 in a multi-vehicle collision on Hwy. 16 around 10 km east of the Jasper Park gates.

Preliminary investigations indicated a pick-up truck travelling westbound crossed the centre line into the eastbound lane a little before 10:40 am and collided with an eastbound sport utility vehicle with seven passengers, including the 10-year-old girl.

The other passengers, aged 13, 14, 16, 19, 44 and 56, were also from Edmonton and suffered injuries that RCMP  believed not to be life threatening.

RCMP stated the name of the deceased will not be released.

The pick-up truck’s lone occupant, a 36-year-old male from British Columbia, suffered minor injuries. 

Westbound highway traffic  was backed up past the Hwy. 40 south exit at one point. The highway re-opened to restricted traffic at 3:30 pm, while Hinton RCMP and the RCMP Collision Analyst remained on scene along with emergency crews.

The collision remains under investigation.

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STARS demand increases, funding drops

Masha Scheele
reporter@hintonvoice.ca

The Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service (STARS) foundation carried out seven inter-facility and scene missions within and near the Town of Hinton in 2019.

The year prior, they carried out 13 missions, while in 2017 they carried out 20 in the same area.

An additional 13 missions were carried out within the Town of Edson and Yellowhead County last year.

The air ambulance organization thanked the Town of Hinton for their ongoing support and for including STARS in their annual budget as an emergency protective services asset.

The Town of Hinton contributed $19,764 in 2019 to support flight operations last year.

While the demand for STARS is steady, the financial difficulty of municipalities due to the pandemic is also weighing on the organizations.

STARS downsized several staff members across all six bases while the requests have increased.

The organization anticipates a reduction in donations while they are also unable to host fundraising events like golf tournaments, galas, and rural community events.

STARS has experienced a substantial increase in the volume of incoming calls to the Emergency Link Centre in Calgary since the COVID-19 crisis erupted. 

Across all six bases in Western Canada, STARS saw as high as 650 incoming calls within one week.

They did not fly on all requests but STARS air medical crews responded to numerous COVID related cases, as well as other daily demands of medical distress.

Summer comes with an increase in motor vehicle collisions and all-terrain vehicle types of accidents, STARS is also experiencing an increase in calls related to pregnancy complications and distress such as gunshot wounds, and overdose circumstances, stated a letter from STARS addressed to the Town of Hinton.

STARS flies an average of eight missions daily for the communities and rural residents they serve. 

Hinton receives support from all three Alberta bases, which include Edmonton, Grande Prairie, and Calgary.

Those bases combined flew 1,434 missions in 2019 and trained 1,106 medical personnel across the province.

The STARS Emergency Link Centre responded to an average of 63 emergency requests per day, totalling to 22,697.

Those calls include scene calls, inter-facility transfers, patients in rural hospitals, industry emergency requests, search and rescue missions, charter helicopter coordinator, and on-line medical control for ground EMS. For more information on STARS or to donate, go to stars.ca

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Cougar causes trail closure

Masha Scheele
reporter@hintonvoice.ca

One local received an unwanted surprise while biking along the Happy Creek trail system near the lookout this week when a cougar jumped across the trail upon her approach.

Chris Watson, Fish and Wildlife officer, said that other than walking adjacent and parallel to the individual, the cougar was not aggressive.

In speaking with the individual after the encounter on Aug. 18, Fish and Wildlife determined that the cougar had made a kill and cached or buried it right on the trail itself.

“From what she described we believe this to be a whitetail buck,” stated Watson. 

Reluctant to move away from its fresh kill, the cat didn’t appear to want to leave the area near the trail known as Halloween.

Watson explained that in nearly every instance, cougars lie within a hundred yards of their kill or even lay on top to protect them from birds or other predators.

Watson concluded that it appeared the individual in this instance was prepared and handled the incident properly.

“This cat appears to have been startled and the person who had this encounter took all the proper precautions to address the matter and was adequately prepared with bear spray – although it wasn’t deployed from our understanding,” Watson said.

A Fish and Wildlife officer attended the area to ensure public safety and to post signs and tape off this section of trail.

The trail and the immediate vicinity of this encounter is expected to be closed for a week to 10 days.

This natural food source was moved away from the trail where the cougar could finish its meal and move on. 

This was not to take away the kill it needs to survive but to move it off the trail in its established home range and away from disturbance of recreational users.

Cougar information signage remains in place behind Maxwell Lake and near the bike park, discussing cougars and what to do if one encounters a cat.  

The Hinton Voice reached out for comment from the individual who encountered the cougar, but they would not comment.

Earlier this week, Fish and Wildlife looked into what was believed to be a cougar attack on a dog at the south west end of Seabolt Estates west of Hinton.

The dog was attacked off a deck where it was sleeping overnight and remains missing, Watson stated.

The predator responsible remains at large and Fish and Wildlife continue their efforts in identifying what occurred.

Any encounters with wildlife should be reported to Fish and Wildlife through the Report A Poacher hotline at -800-642-3800.

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Pilot program to expand electronics recycling

Photo submitted by Anne Auriat

Masha Scheele
reporter@hintonvoice.ca

The Alberta government approved a two-year $43 million pilot project to expand the electronics recycling program.

“Everyone is really happy about this in the recycling industry. They’ve added about 600 different kinds of household items that can be accepted and go through the program,” said Anne Auriat, manager of the Edson and District Recycling Society, which oversees Hinton’s Rowan Street Recycling Centre.

The expanded electronics program will kick off on Sept. 12, the same day as the annual Fall Toxic Roundup.

“We’re following the COVID rules so it might look a little different but we will be doing that,” Auriat said.

Staff will be serving hot dogs, hamburgers, and canned pop, and there will also be some draws.

The spring toxic roundup was cancelled due to COVID-19 restrictions and this event will be limited to a certain number of people at a time.

Auriat added that the issue is making sure there is a good stream of people coming through while managing the numbers at the same time. All staff will be wearing the proper personal protective equipment.

“You can bring your tires down, your oil products, all of your household hazardous,” Auriat said.

The Town of Hinton is organizing their annual cleanup the week prior to the Toxic Roundup, from Sept. 8 to 11.

“We’re working in conjunction with the Town on that,” Auriat said.

The Town noted that residents should contact Hinton’s Infrastructure Services to be placed on a list for the free pickup and are expected to have their waste out and ready to be collected on collection day.

Due to the environmental regulations at the landfill, residents are asked to sort refuse in separate piles of wood, metal, furniture, tires and trees.

After the Toxic Roundup, electronic items no longer have to go in scrap metal or into the landfill, but will be accepted at the Rowan Street Recycling Centre.

Auriat added that there is a huge chunk of microwaves that end up in the landfill and the expanded electronics program will enable those items to be recycled and repurposed. 

The Rowan Street location is open every day of the week, and attendants will help residents put the items in the right spot. 

“These items all have lots of heavy metals in them, like mercury, lead, phosphorus, so it’s really good that it’s being diverted and not put into the landfill,” Auriat said.

The expanded electronics program is a two-year pilot project that has been in the making for 10 or 15 years, she added.

Alberta set up Canada’s first end-of-life electronics recycling program in 2004. 

Over time, the electronics program in the province stalled, and this is the first step forward.

The Edson and District Recycling Society takes all materials to a processor in Edmonton, Shanked Computer Recycling Inc., that takes all items apart into various components.

“The real important part is all the wiring and all the precious metal in the circuit boards. They take it back and everything gets recycled,” Auriat said.

Part of this pilot is also about collecting data, to record which items are being recycled more and how they can better address these items.

The Alberta Recycling Management Authority (ARMA) will conduct community and stakeholder engagement prior to launching the two-year pilot, but this pilot could inform the possibility of a permanently expanded electronics program.

ARMA acts on behalf of the province to oversee all aspects of end-of-life processing of electronics, paint, tires and used oil materials.

Reserve funds will be used by ARMA to recycle up to 24,600 tonnes of electronics products that were not accepted previously in the program.

“An expanded electronics program has the potential to inject $30 million annually into Alberta’s economy and support 360 additional full-time jobs in the recycling sector,” stated Jason Nixon, minister of environment and parks.

Currently, municipalities do not receive compensation to manage electronics outside ARMA’s program, but with this expansion, municipalities will receive funding for collecting additional electronics.

The expanded electronics recycling products include audio visual equipment, telecom, cell phone and wireless devices, electronic gaming equipment, small home appliances, portable power tools, toys, musical instruments and solar panels at no additional cost to consumers, according to the provincial press release.

There are a couple of exceptions to the list of electronics, including lamps, lawn mowers or weed whippers.

“Lawn tools because some of those are gas related and so they want to just say no to the whole line,” Auriat explained.

This expanded program would divert up to an additional 12,300 tonnes from landfills annually, which is the equivalent weight of 8,785 average cars.

Since 1992, ARMA recycled 10 million electronics, which is an average of six per household in Alberta.

According to ARMA’s website, electronics are quickly becoming one of the largest contributors of waste around the world, with 20 to 50 tonnes of e-waste generated each year, and only 15 to 20 per cent of it being recycled.

In 2018, the Alberta recycling sector’s annual economic value was estimated at $700 million in gross value add (GVA) and created more than 7,500 direct, indirect and induced jobs, from which $180M and 1,570 jobs are attributed to ARMA specific programs, stated the provincial press release.

Of the $180M in GVA, the industry injects into Alberta’s economy, about $50M and 400 full-time equivalent jobs are attributed to ARMA’s current electronics recycling program.

There are currently 365 municipal electronics collection sites throughout the province, within 20-minutes from 96 per cent of Albertans.

Toxic Roundup day will run from 10 am until 2 pm on Sept. 12. For more information contact Rowan Street Recycling.

Contact Infrastructure Services at 780-865-2634 for further information on the annual town clean up and to be placed on the pickup list.