The CVRD’s Solid Waste Management draft plan is available for public comment until next Friday, but concerns have been raised about the potential implications of this plan.
Public comments indicate a growing concern that Fisher Road Recycling may be closed if this plan is adopted, but Board Chair Jon Lefebure said the CVRD does not expect that will happen.
Concerns have also been raised about whether or not PAN Disposal will be put out of business, but the CVRD says the plan “does not contemplate service delivery.” However, the District says, “If the draft Plan is approved by the CVRD Board, then a business case will be prepared to determine the most efficient and cost-effective model for service delivery for universal curbside service.”
Lefebure added that the option of ‘universal service’ is being considered.
“There will be a discussion with the public about a universal curbside collection,” said Lefebure. “As in the municipalities, there can be the separate collection of food waste, recycling, and garbage. That form of a universal collection will make our system more efficient and effective at getting contamination out of the recycling stream and more efficient recycling of compostable material.”
The CVRD’s blue box curbside recycling program is seeing unacceptable contamination levels with regard to this program and Lefebure said public consultation will look at a number of options to reduce contamination levels.
“Waste audits show that more than 30 per cent of the garbage sent to landfill is food waste and compostable material, that’s really inefficient and expensive,” said Lefebure. “We need to compost that material, rather than sending it to a landfill in Washington.”
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