The Town of Altona is re-starting the process of reducing its carbon footprint.

A company called Eco-West was hired by the town last year to conduct a study of the town's overall operations as part of a climate change local action plan.

The study would determine how much greenhouse gas those operations were generating and then come up with some ideas on how the community could reduce those emissions.

However, some personnel changes at Eco-West brought that process to a halt and a final report was never finished.

Town CAO Dan Gagne says Eco-West is back to full staff and will use the information it gathered last year and combine it with the input that Altona's new council has provided.

"That will formulate part of the recommendations that go into the climate change local action plan with recommendations on how to incorporate more sustainable practices in regards to recycling, active transportation, solid waste diversion, stormwater management; all of those things that could be improved."

Gagne points out that since the Eco-West study started in 2018, Altona has made some improvements to its operations to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.

"We have the solid waste diversion site at the landfill that will become operational very soon, and we're going to make some changes to the compost program this year which will all be reflected in the final report. I'm confident that there are going to be things that we will have addressed somewhat, but there is always room for improvement and that's what this final report should highlight."

Eco-West's is expected to submit its final report to town council by mid-February.