The Cowichan Valley Regional District board has approved the 10-year Solid Waste Management Plan and it’s now subject to provincial approval.
The plan sets new waste reduction targets along with proposing 13 strategies for the management of solid waste in the next decade, along with a vision 25 years down the road.
The CVRD’s Manager of Recycling and Waste Management Tauseef Waraich said the idea of the management plan is to reduce the per capita garbage rate.
“(In five years) we will go from 350 to 280 kilograms per capita, we’re hoping in 10 years we will reach our goal from 280 to 250 kilograms per capita and this plan will also look into the longer term, 25 years,” said Waraich. “Let’s say by 2040, we’re looking at about 150 kilograms per capita.”
A stakeholder-led Planning Advisory Committee, four CVRD directors, along with regional consultation was required to draft the plan aimed at managing and reducing the waste headed to a landfill in Washington State.
The plan proposes 13 strategies and Waraich said the PAC members had three goals in particular.
“To maximize, reuse, and recover materials, number two is to reduce waste generation, and three is to maximize the beneficial use of discarded materials in whatever goes into landfill,” said Waraich.
He adds that the plan is also meant to, “promote responsible and sustainable residual management.”
The plan proposes a ban on organic materials in the landfill and many measures to make this happen including the introduction of new programs and services in the commercial sector and multi-family buildings, along with the expansion of curbside collection programs in the CVRD’s electoral areas.
Contrary to some rumour, Fisher Road Recycling will continue on as usual and just who provides the universal curbside recycling service in electoral areas will be determined when the service delivery model is designed.
In the interim, PAN Disposal and any other private companies will continue to operate as usual.
