The pit portion of the Jasper Transfer Station is officially closed on Thursday Oct 1.

After 30 years of use, the mixed waste dumpsite will no longer be used and decontamination of the site will commence.

Jurgen Deagle, realty and municipal services manager for Parks Canada, stressed that the rest of the transfer station will remain open to the public, but large quantities of unsorted waste will have to be taken to the Hinton landfill.

“If you’re knocking down a house then you’ve got to take the debris to Hinton and if you think you can get around it by taking it out in ten little trucks, you can’t,” he said.

“But, if you’ve got a small quantity, say a pickup load this week and next week then that will be okay to go into the bins.”

To help residents deal with transportation issues, Parks Canada will supply large bins onsite so that dumping can continue on a much smaller scale at the transfer station.

However bins won’t be on site until the end of October so until then, people can dump their waste directly onto the garbage trailer.

According to Deagle, there will be no exact limit on how much can be dumped, but this may change in the future.

“If we find that the bins are filling up too fast, then we’ll look at putting in some caps,” he said, “but on a trial basis we’re going to see how it goes without a cap on it.”

In an effort to encourage people to separate their waste, the fee for sorted waste will be less than dumping unsorted waste. Unsorted waste will cost $55 per tonne while sorted will cost $35 per tonne.

“We’re really going to encourage them to sort, so that material is recovered and reused,” he said, “and my hope is that everyone does.”

New signage will also be put around the dump to direct people to the correct piles, said Deagle. “We’re going to have a handout at the gate letting people know ‘here’s where you can take your different materials’.”

Also, users will be able to sort within the transfer station if space is minimal at their property or business. 

“If you come in and sort on site  it’s fine – as long as it ends up in the right pile,” he said.

According to Deagle, the decontamination of the pit will commence as soon as the project has been awarded, but public works will be handling the tender.

Anyone who needs any more information on the pit closure at the Jasper Transfer Station should contact Jurgen Deagle 780-852-6102.