NEWS RELEASE
CITY OF BARRIE
*************************
At last night’s meeting of City Council, the Roads Department shared a presentation that showed how the city will help to avoid almost half a million dollars this year by collecting and recycling road sand as part of winter control.
“The best part about this innovation is that it came from the front lines—from the staff who do this job every year,” said Dave Friary, director of roads, parks and fleet. “We are always looking for new ways of providing safe driving conditions that are more environmentally and economically sustainable.”
The sand that is collected from roads during the annual spring street sweeping program has typically been disposed of at the landfill. In the fall of 2016 staff looked into the possibility of recycling the sand for future winter control use.
After a thorough screening of the sand that was collected from roads, staff found that the sand still maintained municipal standards and was suitable for re-use on roads.
By recycling the sand collected during street sweeping, the city will have a cost avoidance of almost half a million dollars and help extend the life of the landfill.
Recycled Street Sweeping Pilot Program by the numbers:
- 7,400 tonnes of sand applied to city streets last winter
- 4,137 tonnes of street sweepings collected in the spring/summer
- 3,600 tonnes of usable, recycled street sweepings
- 741 tonnes of waste ‘overs’ disposed
- 87 per cent of 2017 street sweepings were diverted from the landfill
Roads, Parks and Fleet hopes to continue the project next year pending review of the first year pilot. For more information, please visit the website
*************************
