By Sheldon Spackman

Sand recycling initiative could save City thousands

May 3, 2018 | 2:30 PM

The use of recycled sand and rock chips for traction control on Red Deer’s roads this past winter is an initiative that could see the City save thousands of dollars in its annual budget.

Public Works Manager Greg Sikora says they use between 9,000 – 11,000 tonnes of sand on Red Deer’s streets each winter at a cost of roughly $175,000.

“What we want to do is collect that sand in the spring cleanup and then look at that material that we collect and see whether or not it’s suitable to be reused the following year,” he says. “The sand and rock chips that we use for traction control naturally break down under wheel load, so they may be suitable or may not be suitable. So last year what we did is we collected all about 9,000 tonnes of sanding material, we screened it and we prepped it for this year’s application which it met our specifications to be back on the road and we tried it out and it worked very well.”

Sikora says it’s just a smaller rock and sand material that they intend to recapture through this year’s spring cleanup as well and see how much of it can actually be used again in a recycled form to be a more sustainable use of product.

“When we sweep the boulevards, there’s a lot of grass product in that and there’s a lot of organics,” he explains. “Through the screening process that we work with our contractor, we’re working at finding a very balanced approach to affordably recapture the sand and separate the organics from the sand. Other municipalities have tried that and they’ve used washing methodologies to clean that sand but that is fairly expensive and quite honestly cost-prohibitive.”

rcmp investigating

Crews respond to fire at Amethyst House on Friday

11h ago

Inclusivity and sportsmanship

Lindsay Thurber to host Unified Sports Jamboree on May 6

11h ago

$39.6 million

Ponoka town council finalizes 2026 budget

13h ago

As a result, Sikora says they’re focused on dry-screening options to recapture that sand and to reuse it.

“The big win here is that if we can reuse it, we save money as well as we divert material that goes to the landfill for disposal.”

He goes on to say, ”That’s why we’re doing the pilot is to see, not only the one-time savings but if there’s an on-going or how much recapture can be reasonably assumed. I believe last year through our operations, we saved in the order of about $40,000 on I believe about $170,000.”

To put that in perspective, Sikora says their snow and ice control budget for 2018 is $4.9 million.

“At the City of Red Deer, we always look for opportunities to be efficient and effective in our service delivery,” Sikora states. “This is just another good example of how we try to strive for excellence in Red Deer.”

Finally, he reminds local motorists to always keep safety in mind and ensure City crews have enough room to work in the field and on the streets, as they too have families to go home to.

Sikora says the City’s street sweeping campaign should wrap up by June 1, weather permitting.

by Sheldon Spackman

Sand recycling initiative could save City thousands

What's Trending