Trail residents out walking around their neighbourhoods may have noticed unusual additions to various lawns and gardens in the community lately.
Open topped plastic containers attached to steel rods can be found around town stuck into the ground in parks and yards throughout the area but they aren’t really much of a mystery.
“The samplers are dustfall collectors that are a part of our ongoing fugitive dust reduction program,” said Catherine Adair, Community Relations Leader for Teck Metals. “Specifically, they are part of a project that will help us better understand the sources of fugitive dust and where the dust falls throughout the greater community.”
Teck, in collaboration with the City of Trail and private landowners around the community, has placed 30 collectors, both onsite at Teck, and throughout Greater Trail.
Fugitive dust is particulate matter that escapes from buildings, stockpiles, roadways, and other activities on the Teck property.
“Our current focus is on reducing fugitive dust from a variety of sources such as materials storage, transportation, and buildings,”said Adair. “Our overall objective is to continually improve ambient metal levels, both on-site and in the local community.”
In addition to sampling for dust in town Teck also maintains stations which perform continuous monitoring throughout the valley for metals and sulphur dioxide.