Increases to solid-waste tipping fees will be recommended to the qathet Regional District board.
At the Thursday, November 14, committee of the whole meeting, regional directors voted for a recommendation that would see the municipal solid-waste tipping fee increase from the current $225 per tonne, to $230 a tonne, effective January, 1, 2020; $235 tonne, effective January 2021; and $240 tonne, effective January 1, 2022.
Electoral Area B director Mark Gisborne said there has been an issue he’s been hearing from rural residents, which has to do with the minimum charge of $5.
“I’m not saying it’s too much or too low, but the main issue is that people can pay their $5 and dump 25 kilograms of garbage in one dropping,” added Gisborne. “Most people show up and they are trying to reduce their waste output. They show up with one bag of garbage, pay their five bucks and, ‘you should have brought more garbage’ is what they are hearing.”
Gisborne said he was wondering, if, in the future, consideration should be given to reducing the minimum charge from $5 down to $2 and having that 25 kilograms reduced to 10 kilograms to try and encourage people to reduce the waste coming in from the rural area.
