A towering pile of waste material near a landfill site in southeast Calgary's Shepard Industrial area has become a major source of frustration for nearby residents, who describe it as an eyesore and a growing environmental concern.
Residents Express Alarm
Visible to drivers along 24th Street S.E. near the ECCO Recycling centre, the debris pile has been accumulating over the past several months. Sandra Gilbert, a resident of a nearby trailer park, expressed her dismay: "That pile is getting ridiculous. I don't know what happened, but believe you me, I don't like it." She added that the area usually looks "fantastic" but now appears "quite bad" due to the debris.
Another resident, Mike Thomson, compared the pile to a mountain. "It's really the height of our house times two. It's bad," he said, calling it "ugly as hell." The pile has become a daily reminder of the waste management challenges in the region.
Community Efforts Amidst the Mess
Residents credited one neighbor, Steve, for his ongoing efforts to keep the surrounding area clean. For nearly two decades, Steve has been picking up loose trash along 24th Street S.E., often wearing a safety vest and carrying a trash bag. "It's an eyesore," Steve said of the pile. "I don't know if they can keep this up for very much longer." He described his work as a "garbage line," jokingly comparing it to a fire line. He noted that much of the litter appears to be debris from landfill operations that has blown beyond the site's perimeter.
City and Company Response
The City of Calgary confirmed it is pursuing litigation and enforcement actions related to the site, including injunction proceedings and orders under the Safety Codes Act. However, the city declined further comment due to ongoing legal actions.
ECCO Recycling and Energy Corp., the company operating the facility, acknowledged the issue. In a statement, ECCO explained that a backlog at its materials recovery facility is responsible for the large stockpile. The company started as a waste receiving and sorting facility for construction and demolition materials and later expanded to include a materials recovery facility that sorts mixed waste into recyclables. Normally, the material is processed and shipped out as low-carbon fuel, but facilities that receive the fuel temporarily stopped accepting deliveries for maintenance, creating what ECCO described as "a short-term setback with high visibility." The company said it is working "aggressively" to remove the stored material and expects the pile to be gone by the end of May.
