qathet Regional District (qRD) will continue to support coastal cleanup initiatives.
At the August 28 regional board meeting, held on Texada Island, regional directors considered a recommendation that the board reestablish a coastal cleanup program by reallocating $2,500 of funding from the ocean plastic depot operations to the coastal cleanup program in 2024. The recommendation further stated that $10,000 of annual funding be added to each future budget year for the coastal cleanup program.
Electoral Area B director Mark Gisborne said in the staff report to directors, there were several options, and one was that rather than having $10,000 allocated through the waste management service, the regional district could choose to allocate funds through grants-in-aid.
“That is the more appropriate channel to take,” said Gisborne. “We can do multi-year funding agreements, so that is the better way to go.
“I very strongly feel that a lot of plastics that are showing up on our shores are the responsibility of the federal government and we should be asking the federal government why local taxpayers are paying for all this plastic that is coming from the federal government’s jurisdiction. That’s why I am opposed to this motion, but I’m not opposed to the intent of the motion.”
Regional directors voted to reestablish a coastal cleanup program, with Gisborne opposed.
According to a staff report, qRD’s waste management service includes programs that support local beach and shoreline cleanup efforts, including a residential program that enables free drop-off of recyclable marine debris at the local ocean plastic recycling depot, which is a small transfer station that facilitates material sorting for future transportation to Richmond.
The staff report indicated that when community groups organize larger cleanup events, the volume of material collected may require commercial transportation, as well as barge and equipment fees. Cost of commercial material transportation from shoreline events to waste and recycling facilities may be a barrier that causes some cleanup events not to occur, the report stated.
The regional district previously, from 2017 to 2021, had a coastal cleanup initiative, which allocated $10,000 yearly, that paid the cost of transporting debris from large cleanup sites to waste and recycling facilities.
“qRD environmental services staff continue to receive requests from shoreline cleanup groups for financial support with material transport costs in 2024,” the report stated. “As the coastal cleanup initiative program ended in 2021, the 2024 waste management service budget does not include any amount to support these requests.
“Staff are of the opinion that the qRD should continue to financially support cleanup events in our region.”
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