qathet Regional District (qRD) board is directing staff to explore new industrial, commercial and institutional (ICI) recycling programs for the region and for staff to report back to the board with options.
At the July 3 regional board meeting, directors approved the recommendation to staff after it was brought up at the June 26 committee of the whole meeting. Electoral Area E director Andrew Fall said at the committee meeting that it is good to get options.
“It’s obviously becoming more of an issue,” said Fall.
Electoral Area B director Mark Gisborne said according to a staff report, it looks like 14.5 per cent of the volume of recyclables collected at the Town Centre recycling depot is ICI.
The staff report stated this translates to approximately 50 tonnes of recyclable materials per year that will enter the waste stream if an ICI recycling program is not put in place. The staff report indicated that for many years, Recycle BC permitted the qRD to include ICI recycling in the packaging and paper products program. However, Recycle BC has been terminating the option to collect ICI materials, and qRD staff were recently informed the local ICI option is ending July 31 the report stated, meaning the 50 tonnes of ICI would go into landfill.
This is a cascading problem, as most landfills prohibit recyclable materials in municipal solid waste, or charge penalties, the report stated. To avoid these additional problems, the qRD must create, or contract out, an ICI recycling solution, according to the report.
Gisborne asked if the regional district starts taking the ICI into the waste stream, would the landfill in Washington State take that material?
“If we do end up in the situation where the material is shipped down to Washington, will they take it?” asked Gisborne.
Manager of environmental services Jason Kouwenhoven said it is a relatively small impact compared to the waste volume that is sent out so it will be okay, temporarily.
City of Powell River director Cindy Elliott said the solid waste collection process should examine whether any of the ICI materials could be used locally where opportunities might not exist now.
“We want to design a system that allows us to adapt as opportunities come up,” said Elliott. “My question is: are we looking at ways to be continually adaptable?”
Kouwenhoven said with the new resource recovery centre, one of the main goals is to constantly be looking for ways to divert materials from the waste stream. He said all the recycling programs the regional district has are registered with program operators.
“As of right now, we don’t have local solutions for this kind of [ICI} material in a large quantity,” said Kouwenhoven. “In the immediate term, we will be looking at an export-style solution where we would collect and send these materials to a facility that is already processing this. We would love to come across an opportunity locally. It comes down to quantifying the materials that we have and learning more about the markets that are out there to purchase and receive these materials. That is on my horizon.”
Kouwenhoven said if a local partnership can’t be found, the cost recovery option is taxation or user fees.
“We will learn more about that and will present it in the report that follow up on this,” said Kouwenhoven.
The committee recommended the board endorse the staff report, which the board approved on July 3.
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