Local garbage is piling up, it’s turning into greenhouse gasses, and it has to be collected and processed in better ways.
How should we do that?
The Cariboo Regional District (CRD) needs to know, and they really want the opinions of each area in the CRD, not just overall feedback. Now is the time to provide that input. CRD staff has floated some ideas, but they cost taxpayer money, so no decisions ought to be made, they feel, until the public gives them direction. There were some input meetings and surveys, but it was felt that more input from a wider area of the Cariboo region was warranted.
“There are seven proposals with tax implications,” said CRD communications manager Gerald Pinchbeck.
Do taxpayers want one of these options, some of them, all of them, or none of them? Every possibility is on the table during this feedback period. The discussion points are, should the CRD:
• Establish diversion / reuse centres
• Expand access to multi-unit building recycling
• Increase commercial recycling
• Increase food waste prevention and divert food scraps from landfill
• Establish landfill disposal bans
• Continue to expand the user-pay approach
• Establish rural curbside garbage and recycling
The Cariboo Regional District website has information on each of these, and an easy survey to fill out online.
“If every one of these solid waste management initiatives proceeds, as they are scoped out in the draft plan, the financial implication is $1.82 extra, per $100,000 (home value),” said Pinchbeck. “Right now we all pay $40 per $100,000 to manage all the CRD’s junk.”
The other financial point to consider is the user-pay system, which could cut taxation down, with user-paying offset, but the question afoot across the province and perhaps the nation is how much should user-pay structures be applied versus full taxation-based system. There is a widespread discussion about balance, and that discussion is afoot in the CRD as part of this survey.
It’s not just check-boxes, on the survey, there is room to comment to give the CRD staff direct guidance on what you want to see.
In actuality, there are two surveys: one for the first six points, and a separate one for the expansion of the curbside program, which allows you to plug in your address so each neighbourhood gets properly polled on that final question. Those unserviced neighbourhoods who opt to get the curbside pickup service will be charged a bit extra for that work to be done for you, instead of you driving it to wherever the nearest disposal spots are.
“It’s less wear and tear on your vehicle and your tires, less fuel you have to burn, less time for you sorting and placing it at the landfill or recycling place,” so there are savings to the taxpayer, if that service is taken on, said Pinchbeck.
“Together the residents and businesses in the CRD, Cities of Quesnel and Williams Lake, and the Districts of 100 Mile House and Wells add 42,000 metric tonnes of garbage to our landfills,” said Pinchbeck. “When this is allocated across all residents, it amounts to 640 kilograms/person/year. The cost of managing all this waste is about $9-million per year. We need to reduce our garbage generation to mitigate cost increases, meet residents’ recycling and composting expectations, work towards provincial targets, protect the environment and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Deadline to do the survey has been extended to Monday, June 5.
To take the survey right now, CLICK RIGHT HERE or go to www.cariboord.ca/swmp to read up on the options or www.cariboord.ca/curbside for the online map to add in your address asking for that service.
READ MORE: Cariboo Regional District considering garbage, recycling pickup for 19 proposed areas
READ MORE: Auto fluid recycling centre opens in Quesnel