Initiatives to turn the old incinerator site wasteland into a resource recovery centre are gaining traction.
At a recent City of Powell River Council meeting, it was revealed that senior staff from the city and Powell River Regional District have been engaging in dialogue to look for solutions to the region’s solid waste management problems.
At the council meeting, Councillor Russell Brewer, one of the city’s regional district directors, said there has been discussion at the regional district regarding a resource recovery centre at the former waste transfer site. The financial plan includes a capital cost of about $4.3 million for that facility.
He said that of the $4.3 million cost, hopefully $2.9 million can be secured from a federal grant. Brewer said there was $1.4 million identified in the financial plan as coming from other sources.
“At this point, the assumption at the meeting, I think, is that it is intended to be a city contribution,” he said. Brewer added there is about $1.2 million in a reserve fund and that would be for the first phase of the prospective recovery centre. “I think what I’d like to do is ask staff to discuss this with the regional district to coordinate what the expectations are,” he said.
Mayor Dave Formosa said he hoped any such discussions would also result in a full briefing for council on this whole plan because the recovery centre would be on city property.
“I like the idea of this,” he said. “This is talking about all of our municipal garbage, recycling, composting, everything, doing it ourselves and getting out of this crazy thing that we’ve been saddled with by the provincial government. I think it’s the way to go, but there are issues over property, such as how we are going to work with the botanical garden. There is a way of co-inhabiting and using that to cleanse the land.”
Formosa said there is the budget surplus that has been sitting unused for a number of years. “Where does that plan fit in? I think it’s a good idea that staff meet with staff to get clarification.”
Formosa said a briefing should be open for all of council and the public to attend.
Mac Fraser, chief administrative officer, said senior city staff have already been briefed and had a discussion with Mike Wall, the regional district’s manager of community services.
“It’s not a done deal but we met to give him a perspective of all of our different issues,” Fraser said. “Tor Birtig, our director of infrastructure, is continuing to work with him. We do have some unanswered questions yet.
“It is very innovative. If you have to deal with a contaminated site, it’s a smart thing to do.”
There will be challenges above and beyond capping the incinerator ash, which is a contaminant, Fraser said.
“Going beyond that and producing a recovery centre has a lot of logic to it but it wasn’t part of the original mandate of the solid waste reserve at the regional district,” Fraser said. “There’s some figuring out that has to be done. The recovery centre seems great but it’s not actually part of the closure. Senior staff are quite supportive of the idea because it is proactive in dealing with solid waste, not just the closure.”
