Meadowgreen Recycling Depot in Saskatoon 'a total disaster,' says community member

Community members have had enough of the mess at the Meadowgreen Recycling Depot in Saskatoon.

"This is a total disaster," said Pat Tymchatyn with the Meadowgreen Community Association.

"A lot of the stuff is taken out of the bins and it's spread all over the ground, the pavement, and then the wind blows it around and then it rains on it or it snows on it and people are sleeping in those bins."

The problem isn't new. Tymchatyn, who has been with the community association for decades, told CBC's Saskatoon Morning that residents have been voicing their concerns about the depot for 10 years.

Effective Friday, the city has put in some new restrictions at the depot at 22nd Street and Whitney Avenue to try to curb the problem. The depot will be under security surveillance and it will only be open between 7 a.m. and 9 p.m. CST, with the gates locked outside those hours.

Tymchatyn said these measures won't work.

"People can get in there even if they put a gate on there, the people who are throwing the stuff out of the bins are on foot in most cases and are going to walk through on the other side or jump over the fence or break one of the boards."

Tymchatyn said the community will clean up the space but it quickly reverts to the former mess.

The community association has discussed putting a neighbourhood sign on that corner, which is one of the entrances to the neighborhood, but Tymchatyn said people don't want the community to be associated with the mess.

Angela Gardiner, general manager of utilities and environment with the City of Saskatoon, said the city has been struggling with "the cleanliness and safety" of the depot.

"Unfortunately, the amount of unacceptable activities there and illegal dumping, scavenging, things like that have really culminated over the last month or a few weeks here." 

Gardiner said the city still wants to provide recycling services in the area for legitimate users.