Augusta Recyclers Inc. increased tipping fees for construction and demolition waste by 21 per cent on April 2, 2012.
Augusta increased the fees from $165 a ton to $200 a ton, the same fee for disposing of municipal solid waste. Both waste streams are shipped to a landfill in Roosevelt County, Washington.
Bruce Long, manager at Augusta, said the cost for shipping construction and demolition waste was the same as the cost for disposing of municipal solid waste which is shipped to the same landfill. “We weren’t making any money at $165,” he said. “We’re in business to make money. That’s the way the numbers work.”
Construction and demolition waste used to be shipped to a landfill in Richmond in the Lower Mainland. Long said the cost for shipping to that landfill increased as well. “The costs went up to ship to Vancouver, to barge,” he said. “That was our cheapest alternative, to ship to Rabanco.”
Long said he believed Augusta started shipping construction and demolition waste to Washington around the same time that municipal solid waste began to be sent there.
Powell River Regional District contracts with Augusta to operate a waste transfer station for municipal solid waste, which is shipped to Washington. The regional district also contracts with Augusta to operate a recycling program.
The regional district started shipping municipal solid waste to Washington in 2010.
Long said construction and demolition waste has nothing to do with the regional district and it is not covered in Augusta’s contracts with them.
When asked if he was concerned that the increased fees would contribute to more illegally dumped trash in the area, Long said he hoped not. “I don’t like to see that either,” he said. “You can’t put Augusta at fault for that. We’re in business.”
Long said it was out of the company’s control that people illegally dumped garbage in the area. “I can’t police the bushes and the trails,” he said. “I don’t want to see it happen, but I can’t do a whole lot about it either.”
The Peak could not obtain a comment from the regional district about the increased fees.
