Waste disposal firm protests tender decision
The Star-Phoenix (Saskatoon)
Saturday, November 16, 2002


REGINA -- A Regina business is upset that a Saskatoon-area company [Biomed Recovery and Disposal] landed a three-year contract to dispose of biomedical waste from Regina's Health Authority.

The health authority has announced that Biomed Recovery and Disposal of Aberdeen will process and dispose of anatomical waste, blood and body fluids and "sharps" such as used needles and scalpels.

The waste disposal company will begin work immediately, said Donna Evans, the health authority's vice-president of operations support. She added the waste disposal company already does business with the three Saskatoon hospitals and the health region that includes Moose Jaw.

"This company's proposal was financially attractive and their waste management practices were sound," Evans said.

But Peter Klapchuck at Sanitek Canada, a medical waste disposal company in Regina, expressed concern over the outcome of the tender process.

"I'm really disappointed," he said. "I'm really upset because we blew the whistle (a few) years ago and brought this medical waste going to the landfill to light."

The City of Regina used to allow the untreated sharps waste to be dumped at the landfill. Biomedical waste was covered with dirt in a segregated area of the landfill. However in 2000 Sanitek went public with pictures of uncapped needles, syringes and vials of blood scattered on the ground at the landfill.

The city said the incident was a catalyst for them to change their bylaws, and a new city bylaw came into effect Nov. 1, prohibiting the dumping of untreated sharp medical waste at the city landfill.

Evans said she had no official comment on the disappointment expressed by Klapchuck, but said the authority used an open tender process to award the contract and a multi-disciplinary team made up of a variety of professionals did extensive research to assess the proposals made to the health authority.