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The city auditor issued a scathing critique of Edmonton’s waste management centre Thursday, a facility that’s been touted as best in class for years.

Its goal was to eventually keep 90 per cent of residential waste out of the landfill by recycling and composting. But it’s far from achieving that target.

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Officials report a residential diversion rate (the amount kept from the landfill) of 52 per cent. But the raw data and calculations used to come up with that number change so often, city auditor David Wiun called that figure “unreliable.”

Instead, he looked at all waste entering the facility, what was recycled or composted, and what was trucked to the landfill. That includes some commercial waste.

The highest diversion rate he calculated was 49.5 per cent in 2013. The lowest rate was 35.7 per cent in 2016 and it’s trending down. Operating costs have increased since 2012, but the total waste was constant and total waste diverted from landfills has declined.