Recycling drop-off issue raised by Powell River resident

A Powell River resident has expressed concerns about the closure of the Town Centre Recycling Depot.

At the January 29 qathet Regional District committee of the whole meeting, directors reviewed a report relating to a correspondence from Sandra Cornell, who stated she wanted to express her concerns regarding the resource recovery centre location. She stated that previously, residents were able to easily dispose of recyclable materials at the Town Centre location, but with its closing, residents are now being asked to bring their recycling to the resource recovery centre.

“As a woman of 80 years of age, and without a car, the ability to drop off my recycling is incredibly difficult, if not impossible,” stated Cornell in the report.

She added that she is not able to walk to the new centre and was advocating for consideration of providing accessible areas to recycle, within easy walking distances in town.

Electoral Area B director Mark Gisborne said people used to be able to go to the Town Centre depot, and that the matter of its closure had come before the joint accessibility and inclusion advisory committee.

“We also have a solid waste management plan monitoring advisory committee,” said Gisborne. “Is this an item that could be sent over to our committee?”

General manager of environmental services Jason Kouwenhoven said that would be appropriate.

City of Powell River director Cindy Elliott said her concern is that there have been a number of changes in solid waste recently, and a number of matters that could be discussed at the committee level. She said she is not sure how an advisory committee meeting gets called.

Kouwenhoven said there have been vacancies in that committee’s membership, so it has been difficult organizing meetings. He said there are no solid plans, other than getting back on track with the membership, and to go from there.

The committee carried a motion that it recommend to the board that recommendations from the joint accessibility and inclusion advisory committee regarding accessibility to recycling services be entered into the board’s minutes and filed.

The board then carried a motion to send the matter to the solid waste management plan monitoring advisory committee.

In a staff report, it was indicated that the decision on placement and number of recycling depots lies with Recycle BC. Recycle BC has consistently supported the closure of the Town Centre depot, viewing the resource recovery centre as a direct replacement for it.

Closure of the Town Centre depot reduces annual operating costs by approximately $100,000, according to the report.

There currently is no bus stop at the resource recovery centre for people who don’t have access to a private vehicle. The report stated that adding a bus stop is not feasible.

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