qathet Regional District (qRD) directors have given consideration to extending a contract with Republic Services for transportation and disposal of municipal solid waste for two years.
At the December 18 committee of the whole meeting, directors discussed a recommendation to execute a two-year extension, at an increase of 15 per cent a year, to transport and dispose of municipal solid waste to landfill in Washington State. Directors also considered a recommendation to explore alternative municipal solid waste transport and disposal options for the region.
Electoral Area B director Mark Gisborne said the price increase was a tough pill to swallow. He said fees for solid waste disposal are paid in US dollars.
“It’s not easy, and I’m really struggling,” said Gisborne. “We have a new resource recovery centre and transfer station, and the fundamental problem, at its core, is what do we do with our garbage? This is what we have to do now. There are potentially other options in the future, but come January 1, we have to send our garbage somewhere.”
In terms of sending the municipal solid waste to another site, manager of environmental services Jason Kouwenhoven said there are not a lot of other options, but qRD will need to dig in a little deeper and get more serious in discussions with other locations. The committee voted unanimously that the board renew the contract with Republic Services for two years with a 15 per cent increase per year.
Regarding the second recommendation that the board direct staff to explore alternative municipal solid waste transport and disposal options, City of Powell River director Cindy Elliott said she was in favour of exploring those types of options.
Gisborne said the frustration he has had with how qRD has been dealing with municipal solid waste is, in that there is no local landfill or incinerator – the choice was shipping solid waste to Washington State.
“We have just dealt with a short-term contract, there are big expenses, and they are in US dollars,” said Gisborne. “It’s really time for our board to take this seriously. Cache Creek may be an option but they also have issues. We might want to consider incineration here, locally. We all want to get to zero waste, but for some reason, the amount of municipal solid waste keeps going up. It’s costing us a lot. We keep exporting the problem.”
Electoral Area A director Jason Lennox said he dislikes sending garbage to Washington State, and that it is embarrassing.
“What are the ideas and what are the options?” asked Lennox.
Electoral Area E director Andrew Fall said he fully supported the recommendation and that it is time to look at options. He said, however, the board needs to temper any expectations that there are going to be solutions.
“Dealing with waste is expensive,” said Fall. “It might be tempting to think that not shipping it so far and having a local landfill would be a less costly solution. That is very unlikely in my view. However, I’m open to looking into it and it will be great to have the information, even if it is to put things in context with what we already have and are doing. There are not any easy solutions.”
Elliott said in the region and in the city, there are landfills that have not been properly closed. She said presumably, any landfill options in the future would include costs of closing the landfills.
“Landfills in general are not a long-term, sustainable option, because eventually, you run out of space,” said Elliott. “If we really want to stop having to deal with needing to find new solutions for our solid waste, we need to look at sustainable options that exist in the long-term that are also environmentally feasible. I want to explore all the options.”
The committee voted to recommend the regional board direct staff to explore alternative municipal solid waste options.
According to a staff report, staff engaged extensively with Republic Services to understand the rationale behind the significant cost increases. The report stated that despite staff’s best efforts, Republic Services has indicated that the rate increases were non-negotiable.
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