www.oakvillebeaver.com · OAKVILLE BEAVER Friday, February 12, 2010 · 20 GRAHAM PAINE / OAKVILLE BEAVER ACTION TAKEN: A Miller Waste Systems truck enters its Halton yard in Milton. The Region's waste management contractor has disciplined some employees after garbage and recyclables, collected together on Kerr Street, ended up in Halton's landfill. Region will increase monitoring of waste pickup n Continued from page 1 in one side and recycling materials in the other. However, he said one of the trucks was down for maintenance and the company had to replace it with a regular single-intake garbage truck. That truck was then assigned to do collection for a portion of the businesses on Kerr St. before continuing on with residential garbage pickup, he said. However, on Fridays, businesses in Halton's eight BIA districts, including Kerr Village, leave out garbage, cardboard, and blue box materials for pick-up. "There was a miscommunication and the driver was instructed to put it all in one truck," said Guilford. Guilford said his investigation also uncovered the company had made the same error once over the Christmas season. He said the company has disciplined the employees involved, but he couldn't specify the nature of the discipline because it is a matter between the company and its personnel. "It's not the driver who was disciplined," Guilford said in a follow-up interview Thursday. "It's not his fault." Guilford did not know the amount of material that ended up in Halton's landfill in Milton instead of at the material recovery facility in Burlington where recyclables are supposed to go to be processed and sold, with a portion of the profits going back to the Region. "It's not likely to be a large amount," said Guilford, noting the truck only serviced a portion of the Kerr Street strip. While shopping at Boffo's delicatessen at Kerr Street and Florence Drive Friday just before noon, Oakville resident Melinda "It just irked me. Such a huge disregard for people who put this stuff out and separated it." Melinda Harrison, Oakville resident n Harrison said she saw a Miller truck putting both garbage and recycling into the same truck. "It just irked me," said Harrison, who emailed a description of the incident along with the Miller truck's number and licence plate to the Beaver soon afterwards. "Such a huge disregard for people (businesses) who put this stuff out and separated it." The Beaver verified Harrison's description with the owners of Stoney's Bread Company, located across the street from Boffo's. Steve Chabot confirmed he saw a Miller collector putting both garbage and recycling into the same truck and even remarked his surprise Friday to his business partner, Blake Stoneburgh. "What's your tax dollars going for?" said Stoneburgh Monday. "From the (Region's) perspective, they're paying for it, Miller should be doing it." However, Stoneburgh said it was an unusual occurrence and normally, Miller's trucks are keeping garbage and recycling separate. Representatives of BIAs in Burlington, Milton and Georgetown said no businesses in their areas have reported similar problems with their waste collection. David Miles, Halton's manager of waste management planning and collection, confirmed Monday the truck Harrison saw was Miller's and it had been assigned to the Kerr Village BIA Feb. 5. However, he said staff employed by the Region as "spotters" at its landfill did not notice any recyclable material being brought in and therefore Miller was not written up for a violation. Miles said the Region's contract with Miller allows it to charge liquidated damages for violations of the contract terms, but it did not plan to do so in this instance. He said the Region appreciated Miller's prompt investigation and admission of its error and took that into consideration when deciding its response. The Region plans to step up monitoring of Miller's trucks in the Kerr Village BIA and landfill staff will check more thoroughly loads coming in from trucks servicing that area, Miles said. Halton employs four people whose job is to follow trucks belonging to the Region's garbage and recycling contractors to ensure they are collecting properly and that all materials end up at their assigned destinations, said Miles. After hearing of Harrison's complaint Monday, Miles said he notified those staff to add the Kerr Village BIA district to their "hot sheet." Halton Region signed a six-year contract at an estimated annual cost of $12.4 million with Miller Waste that runs until April, 2014, with the Region holding two one-year options. The contract requires Miller to handle all residential garbage and recycling collection as well as picking up garbage twice a week and recyclables once a week in the BIA districts. Since January 2009, Miller has received nine "mixed load" violations from the Region for trucks arriving at the landfill with recyclable materials, said Miles. They included: · Four violations for trucks arriving with both garbage and Christmas trees mixed together rather than separated. · Three due to collectors who picked up Christmas trees wrapped in plastic instead of leaving them at the household curb with a tag asking the resident to remove the plastic. · One for garbage mixed in with organic material, either yard waste or GreenCart kitchen scraps. · One for garbage mixed in with recyclables. The amounts involved were not serious enough to warrant issuance of liquidated damages, Miles said. However, the Region has applied such damages -- withholding a portion of its money -- to Miller for late pickup and missing streets, he said. Harrison's complaint was unusual in that it was about service in a commercial district, said Miles. He said the Region generally gets calls from residents who don't realize Miller has split-loading vehicles and wonder why GreenCart organic materials and blue box items are being put into the same truck. Harrison, who competed for Canada in the 200-metre breaststroke at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, said she is not an environmentalist and even described herself as a reluctant convert to the benefits of the Region's GreenCart organic recycling program. "I didn't like it, but now I'm constantly harping to `put it in the green box'," she said, noting her household garbage has been reduced by at least half. "I just think we're all responsible for our environment and when the link gets broken, we need to fix it," she said yesterday. "And we need to make sure a link doesn't get broken."