qathet Regional District has received an update of its solid waste management plan and the regional board approved costs associated with the 2021 solid waste management plan.
At the December 10 committee of the whole meeting, Electoral Area B director Mark Gisborne said reading through the report, it talks about assessment of curbside collection services for some electoral areas. Gisborne said he presumes that would require a new regional district service.
“I just don’t see how curbside collection could be integrated into our current waste management service,” said Gisborne. “I don’t see why the municipality would pay for our curbside collection and I also don’t see how some of the rural areas that won’t get curbside collection would be willing to pay for it either. I’m just a little curious as to how that process would go.”
Manager of asset management and strategic initiatives Mike Wall said this initiative comes from the solid waste management plan approved by the provincial ministry of environment and climate change strategy and adopted by the regional board in 2018.
“It’s simply looking into rural areas that have clusters of residents that may potentially be interested,” said Wall. “For instance, Texada Island, in the Gillies Bay area, is on a curbside program with Sunshine Disposal, a contractor. It’s just simply having a look to see if there is any need or want for this.”
City director George Doubt said he read the report and a number of good things have happened and will happen in the future. He asked about funding for the collection services for the mainland electoral areas being completed in early 2021.
“I think you were basically looking for an assessment about whether there was a desire to have curbside collection,” said Doubt. “I was wondering how that was going to be funded and how it was going to be done.”
Wall said for 2021, staff is looking at working with the Let’s Talk Trash team doing their services to reach out to these small clusters.
“They would do the initial engagement and see if in fact there is interest,” said Wall. “Once we gather that then we would include that in next year’s year-end report and potentially budget the following year to hire a consultant to take it further if it’s the direction we want to go.”
Electoral Area C director Clay Brander said regarding curbside collection, he was surprised. He said he wondered what was driving it.
“Has there been complaints or concerns or requests by the community for curbside pickup?” asked Brander. “Or has Let’s Talk Trash identified benefits for having it? I’m curious where it came from. I don’t know if there’s a lot of demand for it.”
Wall said it was part of the solid waste management plan so it was a discussion piece. He said he thinks the main driver is trying to see if there is any opportunity to reduce the amount of traffic to transfer stations. He said on Saturdays, or Mondays at Augusta Recyclers, there can be lineups that go all the way down to the highway.
By trying to find any clusters that would like to participate in curbside, it may reduce some of the traffic, according to Wall.
Electoral Area A director and board chair Patrick Brabazon said the operative word in a motion before the committee was that the committee is considering assessing curbside pickup. He said this matter was discussed at the solid waste management advisory committee and it was decided to include it in the report, to assess the need or the desire.
“That’s all we are talking about,” said Brabazon. “We’re asking people if they want it. It’s not going to happen just because a cluster of people say they want curbside pickup and it will automatically happen. It’s going to be coming back to us.”
Gisborne said his initial question was whether curbside collection, if the regional district was to provide that service, would require a new, separate service, or would it be part of the solid waste service?
Wall said as was stated in the solid waste management plan, it’s simply to assess if there is any potential, need or want, and if there is, it will come back to the board. He said on Texada Island, it is handled by a contractor and the regional district has nothing to do with it. He said it could also involve other scenarios such as engaging the city to run trucks out.
“It would definitely come back to the board if there was proven interest,” said Wall.
The committee carried a motion to receive the solid waste management plan implementation progress for 2020 and action plan for 2021; that the board direct staff to include the action plan items within the 2021 budget at a cost of $45,000 and that the board allocate $45,000 of community works funds to fund the project.
The committee also carried a motion that the board direct staff to hire Maura Walker and Associates to conduct a waste composition study in 2021 on the residual waste management stream.
The regional board, at its December 21 meeting, passed the resolutions.
