The City of Thompson collected 329 mattresses at their waste disposal grounds between January and April of this year.
During council’s June 10 meeting, public works director Neil MacLaine recommended that the city pay Tree Suns $44,000 to shred this current stockpile of mattresses as opposed to burying them whole or shipping them to a company in Winnipeg for processing.
Council ultimately approved this resolution by a 6−2 vote, although Coun. Andre Proulx wasn’t present to have a say.
Coun. Jeff Fountain said he supported this move wholeheartedly, since the shredding process allows for the separation of metal coils and spring from the fabric that will give the landfill’s equipment a lot less problems.
“I think the damage that those [metal materials] were doing to the equipment was probably as high or close to the price that we’ll pay for shredding,” he said. “This isn’t the first go at shredding. I think this might be the third and it’s gone well. The alternatives are much more expensive and much more problematic.”
Coun. Brian Lundmark also approved this resolution on the grounds that this shredding process will have less impact on the lifespan of the waste disposal grounds.
However, Coun. Duncan Wong voted against this resolution, believing that it costs significantly less to ship these mattresses down south. In his estimation, the current stockpile of mattresses could be transported to Winnipeg in three loads for around $10,000.
The city currently charges a $20 processing fee for any resident who brings their mattress at the waste disposal grounds, which are currently open 8 a.m. to 5p.m. from Monday to Friday (and 8 a.m. to 4p.m. on Saturdays).
Council also approved the purchase of two new garbage and recycling trucks for a grand total of $642,708. MacLaine said the city’s current fleet was due for a replacement, since they acquired their current residential garbage truck and recycling truck in 2009 and 2010, respectively.
The next Thompson council meeting is June 24 at 7 p.m.
