KC Jordan, LJI Reporter

The MRC Pontiac and representatives of the company FilloGreen met two weeks ago to officially sign a new household waste collection contract for all MRC municipalities.

The contract, which was awarded to the company at last month’s MRC Pontiac council meeting, will begin on Aug. 19 and will last for three years.

FilloGreen, which operates a site at the Pontiac Industrial Park in Litchfield, “focuses on sorting, processing, recycling and enhancing dry construction, renovation and demolition (CRD) materials,” according to its website.

The company won the contract over the incumbent McGrimmon Cartage, located just outside Shawville, which was the only other bidder.

Nina Digioacchino, an environmental coordinator at the MRC who works on waste management, said FilloGreen won the bid by accruing the most points on an evaluation chart with scoring categories including experience, knowledge of the territory, as well as cost.

“They had the best overall score between the two proposals that we received,” she said.

She said the MRC is still working out details, but it wants garbage collection to look the same for Pontiac residents when the contract switches over.

“The goal is to have everything as-is,” she said, adding that collection days should remain the same.

Under the new contract, certain municipalities that currently collect their own waste and bring it to the McGrimmon transfer site will now transport loads to FilloGreen’s transfer site in Litchfield.

Shawville mayor Bill McCleary said the town has spent $130,000 on a compactor truck for this purpose.

“We’ll be able to put the whole town’s garbage in the compactor truck in one shot, truck it to Litchfield, and dump it there,” he said, adding that the town used to take its garbage to McGrimmon in a truck, a task that took four or five trips to complete.

He said this new arrangement could be financially beneficial for his town, as FilloGreen is offering a 20 per cent discount for municipalities who truck their own waste to the Litchfield site.

“We feel there will be a cost savings,” he said.

FilloGreen has previously pitched its Litchfield site as a potential landfill location for the Pontiac’s household waste, promoting this idea through ads in various local media outlets.

In an ad campaign from November, the company touted this option as one that would save money the MRC spends to transport the county’s garbage to the landfill in Lachute.

The ad also said a Litchfield landfill would create jobs and support the local economy.

THE EQUITY requested an interview with FilloGreen several times to better understand the company’s intentions for its Litchfield site, but no interview was granted before the publication deadline.

“We feel there will be a cost savings,” he said.

FilloGreen has previously pitched its Litchfield site as a potential landfill location for the Pontiac’s household waste, promoting this idea through ads in various local media.

In an ad campaign from November, the company touted this option as one that would save money the MRC spends to transport the county’s garbage to the landfill in Lachute.

The ad also said a Litchfield landfill would create jobs and support the local economy.

THE EQUITY requested an interview with FilloGreen several times to better understand the company’s intentions for its Litchfield site, but no interview was granted before the publication deadline.

The company has not received an approval from Quebec’s environment ministry to operate a household waste landfill at this site.

MRC Pontiac’s director general Kim Lesage said the MRC was aware of the company’s ambition to open such a landfill in Litchfield, but did not consider it when making a final decision about the waste collection contract because the company doesn’t have the necessary approvals.

“We are aware that is an idea that they have, but it is completely separate from this contract for transferring the garbage to Lachute,” Lesage said.

The agreement between FilloGreen and the MRC stipulates the company will continue to transport the MRC Pontiac’s household waste to the Lachute facility, like McGrimmon is currently doing.

But according to section 5.3.2 of the call for tenders released by the MRC, the disposal facility can change “if another facility offers a better price for transportation and disposal than the one currently agreed upon.”

Any new facility would have to be approved by the MRC and would have to meet several criteria, including “no negative implications, no negative monetary consequence and no negative impact of any nature for the MRC or its constituent municipalities.”

THE EQUITY asked Digioacchino if the MRC would be open to a household waste landfill opening on the Litchfield site if it received an approval.

“I’m not going to speculate on that at this point in time,” she said. “Right now everything is going to Lachute and it’s staying with Lachute.”

Digioacchino said she is confident Lachute will remain the disposal facility for the duration of the contract.

“As far as we are concerned, it could take a very long time for the [government] to approve a facility.”

“It will be Lachute until the end of the game because you can’t just flip it around and get a certificate of authorization . . . It’s a very long process.”

After the three-year contract is up, the MRC Council of Mayors will have the option to extend the contract for another two years.