Powell River Regional District is recommending closure of one of Texada Island’s recycling depots after a request from the non-profit program that runs the depot.
Mike Wall, manager of community services for the regional district, presented his report to the regional district’s committee of the whole meeting October 8 on the proposed closure of one of two Texada Island rural recycling depots run by Multi-Material BC (MMBC), a paper and package stewardship program.
“The service that [Texada Island residents] are receiving there is miles beyond what anyone in the province is getting,” said Wall.
Many BC communities are not yet serviced by MMBC, including the City of Powell River. Texada residents currently have two depots to bring their recyclables, one in Gilles Bay and the other in Van Anda, the depot that is proposed to close.
The regional district owns the property where the Gillies Bay depot is located and operates at almost half the cost of the Van Anda depot.
“In speaking with other regions districts implementing the program, staff became aware that two rural depots on Texada would be considered excessive and that one rural depot would be more reflective of the program’s intent,” Wall wrote in his October 8 report.
Prior to the launch of the Multi-Material BC (MMBC) program in May 2014, the regional district had green bins for collecting rural recycling at locations throughout Powell River and Texada Island.
The recycling bins were unsupervised and, according to bin-maintenance company Sunshine Disposal, they would often be filled with non-recyclable materials.
“Our board had already identified where they were going to put [the MMBC depots]. They were just following where the green bins had been,” said Wall.
Questions were raised by staff about the number of depots on Texada Island during that process, but the decision was to go forward with two, said Wall.
MMBC manager of collections Jordan Best wrote a letter to Wall on September 8 explaining the company had determined that having two depots on Texada Island “is not consistent with the level of service provided elsewhere in BC and particularly on other island communities.”
MMBC wants to amend its contract with the regional district to remove one of the depots and it would be up to the regional district to determine which one.
If a resolution cannot be agreed to, three months notice needs to be given by either party to dissolve the current contract.
Wall is recommending that the Van Anda depot be closed and the regional district board engage in public consultation before making a decision.
“Closing a recycling depot in this day and age sends the wrong message,” said regional district Electoral Area D director Sandy McCormick. “It bothers me that they would have the right to dictate to local communities the number of recycling depots we’re allowed to have.”
McCormick said Texada is the largest of the gulf islands and residents are spread over its 50 kilometres and closing one of the depots would be “a huge inconvenience.”
The island has roughly 1,000 year-round residents and in comparison to Salt Spring Island is double the size and has 10 per cent the population. Salt Spring has one recycling depot.
“People want recycling in their own communities and they want to be able to walk there, which is currently possible with depots in each community,” added McCormick.
She added that making residents drive further could create a larger carbon footprint than not recycling.
“It’s the wrong thing to do,” she said. “But either way it’s the wrong thing to do.”
Wall wrote in his report that Van Anda residents may be able to keep the depot if they are willing to pay extra for it.
McCormick said she has not talked to residents about the option of paying for the depot so she could not comment.
“It shouldn’t be up to the regional district to do the dirty work of MMBC,” she said. “Let MMBC come to Texada and tell residents directly.”
