Crossroads
This week
HIGH KICKIN’
DARRELL NESBITT/CROSSROADS THIS WEEK
Clay Greenslade of Rocky View County, AB posted a successful eight second ride on Saturday, July 26, aboard this bareback bronc named Kinky Boots, supplied by stock contractor Top Line Rodeo at the Waywayseecappo First Nation’s Brandon location. The sanctioned Canadian Cowboys Association event saw a total of 55 bronc riders competing over two days with a large percentage finding the horses supplied by the Murray Clearsky Family too much to handle.
The changing landscape of garbage collection
RACHEAL FLINTOFT
Crossroads This Week
Across the region, garbage collection services for municipalities such as Yellowhead and Prairie View have seen a noticeable shift in resources this year, as MWM Environmental has become a clear player in local waste management and modified environmental practises. Taking over waste disposal since spring 2025, the move to utilize a waste management company such as MWM is decentering municipalities away from the reliance on local landfills, economic pressures, environmental concerns, and regulatory changes. More and more municipalities are feeling the crunch to explore alternative waste
management strategies, with many now involving contracting out services to private providers like MWM.
The decline of municipal landfills is the result of many growing environmental concerns. Historically, each community in western Manitoba has operated its own landfill, handling waste disposal locally. However, the aging infra-
structure, limited space, and growing environmental regulations have deemed many of these sites unsustainable. Landfills, especially older and overused locations, pose significant environmental risks, including potential soil and groundwater contamination from leachate, air pollution from landfill gases like methane and VOCs, and fire hazards due to gas accumulation.
“Lack of landfill area, equipment costs, staffing shortages, and the high cost of creating new engineered sites made us reconsider our options,” explained Mayor Merv Starzyk, Yellowhead Municipality. “Contracting out waste collection and disposal was a practical solution to these challenges.”
