City, Sault College plan ‘trash lab’ at Bondar Marina

Conditional on provincial funding, city council agreed last night to spend $90,700 for two state-of-the-art waste skimmers to be installed on floating docks at Roberta Bondar Marina.

The waste reduction machines are known as Collec’Thors.

They're mounted on floating docks and can process 32,000 litres of marina water an hour, with a capacity to collect 320 litres of trash.

"I just wanted you to go over what this looks like in the marina," Ward 4 Coun. Stephan Kinach said.

"Is it a swimming-around robot that's collecting garbage. Is it stationary? How does it work?"

"This receptacle is attached to the dock," replied Emily Cormier, the city's sustainability co-ordinator.

"There'll be two of them. It'll be put in in May and then removed in the summer months," Cormier said.

"Collec’Thors attract and collect all solid and liquid waste floating on the water’s surface," Cormier said in a report co-authored by Virginia McLeod, city manager for recreation and culture.

"They are silent and effective and can be installed on floating docks in areas where marine waste routes have been identified. They operate continuously, attracting waste over a large area. Each Collec’Thor can hold up to 100 kilograms of waste."

Environmental benefits are expected to include:

• enhancing water quality and ecosystem health
• mitigation of pollution sources
• support for sustainable infrastructure 
• community engagement and awareness 

Pending funding from the Great Lakes Local Action Fund, the city is planning two partnerships for the marina project.

Here's how Cormier describes them:

Pending funding, partnerships have been secured with the Lake Superior Watershed Conservancy to support project implementation in creating educational components including school visits and indigenous-led teachings through their Métis waterfront interpretive tours over the summer of 2025.

As well, in the fall of 2025, Sault College has partnered with the city to conduct a trash lab with science and nature students to analyse waste collected in the Collec’Thors over the summer of 2025. Training will be provided by the International Trap Trash Network2. Community involvement will include trash sorting analysis, educational activities on waste reduction, and promotional events for World Water Day.

The overall project budget will be $100,000.

That will include $90,700 for two Collec’Thors, installation and first-year operational costs.

"The remaining $9,300 has been allocated to cover costs for the Lake Superior Watershed Conservancy including salaries, school bus fees and Indigenous honorariums," say Cormier and McLeod.